Deadline reports that Jay Ryan will play the adult version of Ben Hanscom — originally played by Jeremy Ray Taylor in the first film — in New Line Cinema’s horror sequel It: Chapter Two. The news comes after the recent announcement that James Ransone and Andy Bean have also signed onto the project, playing the older versions of Eddie Kaspbrak and Stanley Uris.
Jay Ryan’s credits include the eOne/Hulu drama series Mary Kills People, The CW’s Beauty and the Beast, and the Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning miniseries Top of the Lake for BBC/Sundance Channel. Ryan will also star in the Australian six-part event drama Fighting Season for Foxtel, premiering this year.
Ryan will also star alongside James McAvoy (X-Men franchise, Split) as Bill, Jessica Chastain (Crimson Peak, The Martian) as Beverly, and Bill Hader (Barry, Trainwreck) as Richie, with Bill Skarsgård also set to return as the clown Pennywise for the sequel.
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.
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.
