It (novel)

Did You Know?

• A special limited edition for the 25th anniversary was published by Cemetery Dance in 2011, featuring a new afterword by Stephen King.
• The novel explores themes of memory, childhood trauma, and the power of unity and belief.

Background

In 1978, while living in Boulder, Colorado, King came across an old wooden bridge that reminded him of the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff," sparking interest in transplanting that scenario into real life. He was also inspired by a line from Marianne Moore about "imaginary gardens with real toads," which he rephrased as "real trolls in imaginary gardens." King began writing the novel in 1980 and finished five years later, drawing influence from the mythology and history of sewer construction in Bangor, Maine.

Plot

The novel alternates between two time periods in third-person omniscient narration. In Derry, Maine, six-year-old Georgie Denbrough is killed by a clown named Pennywise after his paper boat washes into a storm drain. The following June, overweight Ben Hanscom escapes bully Henry Bowers and befriends asthmatic Eddie Kaspbrak and stuttering Bill Denbrough, Georgie's brother. They form the Losers Club with Richie Tozier, Stan Uris, Beverly Marsh, and later Mike Hanlon.

Each child encounters Pennywise in terrifying forms: a mummy, a fountain of blood, a rotting leper, drowned corpses, and a phantom of Georgie. Bowers kills Mike's dog and chases him into the Barrens, where the Losers drive off Bowers's gang in a rock fight. From Mike's scrapbook, they learn It is an ancient monster. Using a smoke hole, Richie and Mike hallucinate It's origins as an extraterrestrial that hibernates for 27 years between feeding cycles.

Reception and legacy

The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1987 and was nominated for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards that year. Publishers Weekly listed it as the best-selling hardcover fiction book in the United States in 1986. Modern reviews were mixed, with critics divided on the book's length, the portrayal of women characters, and a controversial sex scene involving children. The New York Times praised King's atmosphere but noted a lack of motivation in Stanley Uris's death. Reactor called the book "by turns boring and shocking" and criticized the child characters as "a little too perfect." The Guardian described it as "a structural marvel" but expressed concern over descriptions of childhood sexuality. In 2003, it ranked 144th on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel was banned in Russia in 2025.

Adaptations

In 1990, a television miniseries aired starring Tim Curry as Pennywise, with John Ritter, Harry Anderson, Richard Masur, Tim Reid, Annette O'Toole, Richard Thomas, Olivia Hussey, Dennis Christopher, and Michael Cole as the adult Losers and Bowers; younger roles were played by Brandon Crane, Seth Green, Ben Heller, Marlon Taylor, Emily Perkins, Jonathan Brandis, Adam Faraizl, and Jarred Blancard. Tommy Lee Wallace directed. In 1998, an Indian television series adaptation starred Lilliput as Pennywise, with Ashutosh Gowarikar, Mamik Singh, Anupam Bhattacharya, Shreyas Talpade, Parzan Dastur, Manoj Joshi, and Daya Shankar Pandey; it was directed by Glen Baretto and Ankush Mohla.

A two-part film adaptation began with It (2017), directed by Andy Muschietti, set in the late 1980s and starring Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise and Jaeden Martell as Bill Denbrough, with Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Owen Teague, Nicholas Hamilton, Logan Thompson, and Jake Sim. It Chapter Two (2019) adapted the adult section, set in 2016, starring James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Jessica Chastain, James Ransone, Andy Bean, Isaiah Mustafa, and Jay Ryan, with Skarsgård and the younger actors returning.