Bill Skarsgård Is Great in ‘It’, but I Kinda Wish This Actor Hadn’t Abandoned Pennywise’s Role

Despite some disappointing adaptations that failed to gain Stephen King’s trust, there has never been a downgrade in the writer’s career in movies and on TV ever since the 1970s, when King’s “Carrie” was published the Brian De Palma’s adaptation came around.

However, Stephen King’s cinematic universe reached its prime with 2017’s It starring Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Clown, forever framing the actor’s successful career in Hollywood and the novel’s increased popularity that has now resulted in It: Welcome to Derry’s creation.

It’s fair to say no one might be able to approach Pennywise’s character as masterfully as Skarsgård, but at some point he wasn’t even taken into consideration.

Years before It was released, another director wanted to adapt Stephen King’s novel with a different actor in mind.

Will Poulter Was Initially Cast as Pennywise in Cary Fukunaga’s ‘It’

While Andy Muschietti managed to bring the best version of Stephen King’s novel to the big screens, he wasn’t the only one who wanted to try to adapt “It”.

Before Muschietti, American director Cary Fukunaga had plans for the novel and even offered the leading role to The Maze Runner’s star Will Poulter, but eventually things didn’t turn out in the best way for both.

First it was Fukunaga who left the project for some reasons, later followed by Poulter who at some point revealed he suddenly had a feeling of distancing from the character and wasn’t that sure about his ability to portray Pennywise.

After all, Muschietti’s adaptation didn’t take much longer to arrive, with the Argentinian director now casting Bill Skarsgård as the primary villain.

Since then, Skarsgård’s career has skyrocketed and brought him a handful of other roles just as dark as the one of Pennywise, cementing his status as the best actor for the villainous roles.

‘It’ Fans Wish They’d Seen Will Poulter’s Version of Pennywise

Even though Skarsgård’s has been praised million times and never received a single bad word, the movie’s fans think Stephen King’s character would also look good had Will Poulter made it to being Pennywise.

After all, Fukunaga and Muschietti’s ideas aren’t connected in any way and would have been two separate adaptations, meaning that Skarsgård would get his most iconic role anyway.

“I have to say, I thought he was a GREAT choice and would have been a much more malevolent Pennywise who could have been subtler, more menacing and didn't rely on moving his eyeballs apart to be scary”, user GreyStagg lamented in a Reddit thread.

“I was so disappointed when I found out that we wouldn’t get to see the Cary Fukanaga version. I mean, Muschietti didn’t do that bad of a job, but when I think of the photography and just sheer atmosphere of True Detective!” filifijonka agreed.