Stephen King's It became one of the most successful horror movies of all time last year. It also happens to be one of the best Stephen King adaptations to date. Fortunately, the filmmakers left the door wide open for a sequel. It only adapted half of the original novel. The other half will be explored in It: Chapter 2 , currently scheduled for release in September 2019.

Loading

If you're not familiar with the source material, you might be wondering why there's still so much ground left to cover and why so many of the major roles are being recast. Read on to find out how Chapter 2 builds on the foundation of the first film and why the battle with Pennywise isn't done yet.

The 27-Year Gap

Loading

The New Cast

15 Movie Sequels That Dumped the Original Cast 16 IMAGES

Old Villains Return

The Best Movies Based on Stephen King Stories 14 IMAGES

Stephen King's Mythology

Loading

During the course of the original movie, Bill Denbrough and his friends discover that they're far from the first Derry residents to encounter Pennywise the clown. This entity has been haunting the town for centuries, emerging every 27 years for a feeding frenzy that lasts somewhere around 12-16 months before returning to hibernation. Unsurprisingly, Chapter 2 will pick up 27 years after the events of the first movie, with Pennywise again awakening and looking to feed.The main difference between the movies and the novel in this regard is that the novel took place in the 1950s and 1980s, while the movies are set in the 1980s and the present. But otherwise the basic structure of the story appears to be the same. Chapter 2 will feature adult versions of the Losers Club returning to Derry to confront a nightmarish evil they had all but forgotten.Given the time jump between the first movie and Chapter 2, it was inevitable that director Andy Muschietti would have to recast most of the main characters. Bill Skarsgård will return as Pennywise, but the Losers Club will be played by a new cast of adult actors. The new cast includes James McAvoy (Bill Denbrough), Jessica Chastain (Beverly Marsh), Bill Hader (Richie Tozier), Isaiah Mustafa (Mike Hanlon), Jay Ryan (Ben Hanscom), James Ransone (Eddie Kaspbrak), Andy Bean (Stanley Uris) and Teach Grant (Henry Bowers).The good news for those fond of the original Losers Club cast is that the younger actors are all reprising their roles. It appears that Chapter 2 will feature flashbacks to the period of the original film. Also look for Jackson Robert Scott to continue playing the ghost of young Georgie Denbrough, still tormenting his grieving older brother after all these years.It's still fair to ask how Muschietti and his team can get a full-length movie out of this follow-up conflict. Bill and his friends discovered the secret of hurting Pennywise in the first movie. What's to stop them from simply venturing into the sewers to attack It all over again?Unfortunately, things aren't quite so simple. Much of the conflict in the latter-day portion of the book involves the former Losers Club members simply working up the courage to return to Derry and confront their childhood foe. After 27 years, they've mostly repressed their childhood experiences and moved on. They lack the resolve they showed during their blood pact at the end of the first movie.The other challenge is that they'll face old foes in new forms. That includes childhood bully Henry Bowers, now even more dangerous and unhinged as an adult. Henry is recruited by Pennywise to kill the members of the Losers Club. As for Pennywise himself, he doesn't appear in his traditional clown form as much in this phase of the story. Instead, our heroes are confronted with the demon in its true form , one more powerful than ever despite It nearly being killed during their previous battle.While It may be a horror novel, it's also a story that delves into the strange, mythological underpinnings of Stephen King's shared literary universe. Readers come to learn that It has been locked in an endless war with a massive turtle, one who supposedly created the entire universe by literally vomiting it forth. Both of these cosmic beings, in turn, are subservient to an even higher power called "The Other." Meanwhile, Bill and his friends ultimately try to defeat It by harnessing a psychic process known as the Ritual of Chüd.Basically, the book goes to some pretty strange places over the course of its 1138 pages. It remains to be seen just how much of the novel's esoteric material will make its way into this new movie. Will audiences be in the mood for fantasy along with their horror, especially given the cool reaction to The Dark Tower last year? Can It's rivalry with a giant, barfing turtle even survive the transition to the screen?The first film loosely acknowledged the interconnected nature of King's work through various hidden cameos. Chapter 2 may follow suit, presenting subtle homages to the larger mythology of the King-verse without directly dealing with concepts like the Turtle and the Other. We'll find out when It: Chapter 2 is released on September 6, 2019.

Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter , or Kicksplode on MyIGN