It Chapter Two Will Feature the Ritual of Chüd from the Novel

Stephen King fans praised the movie gods last year when they were given an adaptation of one of King’s novels that exceeded expectations. It was a faithful adaptation of the novel but left out some of the more curious elements of the first half of the landmark text. However, word has now come that some weird elements of the novel will be included in the upcoming follow up.

Screenwriter Gary Dauberman has confirmed to Cinema Blend that the Ritual of Chüd will be included in the 2019 follow-up. In the novel, the ritual is way the Losers Club eventually defeated the title monster which involves a lot of really bizarre moments that are easier to do in a novel than on screen.

“The Ritual of Chüd is challenging, but it’s such an important component to the book that we had to address it. That stuff is difficult to balance, but because (director Andy Muschietti, producer Barbara Muschietti and I) worked with each other before, when I’m writing pages and all that stuff it becomes more of a conversation and less like, ‘Hey, here’s what I did.’ It’s sort of organic; it’s really kind of just chipping away at the stone and trying to find the most focused, accessible way into some of more metaphysical aspects of that book.”

Dauberman went on to explain that the Ritual of Chüd will try to be fully realized on screen. The ritual is described as “a battle of wills between the Losers Club and Pennywise, going as far as Pennywise and a member of the Club in a joke contest.”

The main cast of IT: Chapter 2 also includes James McAvoy (X-Men franchise, Split) as Bill, Bill Hader (Barry, Trainwreck) as Richie, Jay Ryan (Beauty and the Beast) as Ben and James Ransone (Generation Kill) as Eddie, with Andy Bean (Here and Now) as Stanley Uris, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike, Teach Grant (Altered Carbon, Damnation) as Henry Bowers, Jess Weixler (The Son, Chained for Life) as Bill’s wife, Xavier Dolan (Boy Erased) as Adrian Mellon, Will Beinbrink (Queen of the South) as Tom Rogan and, of course, the return of Bill Skarsgård (Atomic Blonde) as the clown Pennywise.

The rest of the young cast of IT, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) as young Richie, Jeremy Ray Taylor as young Ben, Jack Dylan Grazer (Shazam!) as young Eddie, Chosen Jacobs (Castle Rock) as young Mike and Wyatt Oleff (Guardians of the Galaxy) as young Stan will all be returning for IT: Chapter 2.

IT debuted in September of last year to the tune of $123.1 million on opening weekend, the highest opening weekend ever for a September release, for a fall release, and for a horror movie. It clocked in just $9 million behind Deadpool for the second-highest opening for an R-rated movie. The film earned over $700 million at the worldwide box office, making it the highest-grossing horror movie of all time.

The second part of IT is written by Gary Dauberman from the book by Stephen King, and will be directed once again by Andy Muschietti. The sequel will hit theaters on September 6, 2019