Variety is reporting today that Jessica Chastain is in negotiations for a leading role in New Line Cinema’s It: Chapter Two.
Sources stress that negotiations are early and that the script is still being worked on, but both sides have officially begun discussing her coming on to the project. Bill Skarsgard is also expected to return as Pennywise. The sequel will bow on Sept. 6, 2019, with production expected to start this summer.
Chastain has been linked to the sequel for some time following its monster opening weekend, as the Muschiettis mentioned her in an interview with Variety as a top choice to play adult Beverly in the sequel. Rumors even surfaced of a post-credits scene in which Chastain could have made a cameo, though that never came to fruition.
I didn’t see It because horror movies aren’t really my bag and I’m pretty maxed out on how much I can care about period pieces set in the 1980s. You also have to compete with movies actually made in the 1980s like Back to the Future. There’s just not a lot of time for movies based on books that have already had TV movies made about them. If you want me to watch something from the 80’s about creatures in a sewer, then they need to be turtles who know martial arts.
I am looking forward to the sequel now that Chastain is reportedly going to be on-board. I imagine they’ll rewrite the ending so that Chastain’s character Beverly waterboards Pennywise while everyone else stands around chanting “USA! USA!” and she explains to the shape-shifting monster that tricking children into the sewers to kill them is one thing, but he crossed a line when he knelt down during the national anthem. Then she hops in a fighter jet and bombs Syria. I mean, at least that’s why I gather looking at the rest of Chastain’s body of work.
Chastain also has a role in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix film, where’s she rumored to be playing Shi’ar Majestrix Lilandra Neramani, a character who is presented as a wise and peaceful ruler, but is also an autocratic dictator who rules through the force of the Shi’ar Royal Guard, a pastiche of the Justice League that are unwaveringly faithful to her. So, you know, a typical day for Chastain.