From 2012 to 2015, True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga was set as the IT director, and it was in his final weeks on the movie that he cast Will Poulter as Pennywise.
Either way, as Andres Muschietti laid out to Deadline, the actor eventually decided he didn’t want to be part of IT anymore.
It’s unclear if Fukunaga’s departure from IT played any role in Poulter’s own decision to leave or if he might have left even if Fukunaga had stayed on board.
If Poulter’s recent appearance as police officer Phillip Krauss in Detroit is any indication, he would have done an impressive job playing one of Stephen King’s most terrifying creations.