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Jason Fuchs, co-creator of It: Welcome to Derry, has shed some light on the return of Pennywise — specifically, exactly what convinced actor Bill Skarsgård to reprise the role. Skarsgård already played the villainous clown in both film chapters of It, and it wasn’t a given that he’d return for the horror prequel that takes place in the same universe. It wasn’t easy for the producers to bring him back, and now Fuchs has revealed what caught the actor’s interest in playing Pennywise again.

As reported by CinemaBlend, Fuchs was recently featured in the column The King Beat, where he explained that it took some convincing to get Skarsgård to return. Apparently, it was the series’ depiction of the character and its origins that did the trick:

"The journey of Bill coming to this show was not a foregone conclusion. Bill obviously always wants to work with Andy and Barbara [Muschietti]. Bill loves the world of this and loves the character, but he had, to his credit, felt like he had done the thing. He played this character, he delivered two iconic performances. And so it was not as simple as, ‘Hey, we’re doing an It prequel series, come play Pennywise.’ It was, ‘What is different about the character this time? What is there that I haven’t been able to already achieve with this character?’

"I think what ultimately sold him was the elements that you’re seeing now in episodes six, seven, and eight. I think he was excited about playing the It manifestation of Pennywise. I think he was really, really excited about getting to play Bob Gray, the very human man, the real life – at least real life in-canon – clown who It had encountered in 1908, as we see at the top of episode seven, and whose lives were forever both changed by that encounter."

Can the ‘It’ Universe Work Without Skarsgård’s Portrayal of Pennywise?

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"It set a high bar for us as creators, as writers, executive producers," Fuchs said about the moment they realized it wouldn’t be easy to convince Skarsgård to return to the horror franchise. "How do we generate something that feels worthy of Bill returning to this role? And that was the challenge from the start. And when we got the ‘Yes’ from Bill, it felt like a big accomplishment because without him, there was no Welcome to Derry. We had no illusions about that."

Could the show work without Pennywise — and Skarsgård in the role? It’s been a few episodes since viewers started to feel the villain’s presence, but the first entries didn’t need Pennywise in order to work. It’s still early to speculate about the series having more seasons, but if it were to get renewed, chances are it’d have to find a way to function without the character.

The universe created by King can work without Pennywise, but it doesn’t mean it should. Mass appeal is a big part of the series, and there’s no question that many fans are watching it because they’re waiting for Pennywise to make an appearance. It’s not only a matter of good writing, high production value, and matching the spirit of the franchise. It’s also a matter of bringing in the big guns, and Pennywise is arguably the most important one on the shelf.

Release Date October 26, 2025

Network HBO

Directors Andy Muschietti

Charlotte Hanlon

Jovan Adepo

Leroy Hanlon