IT: CHAPTER TWO Will Include The Scene We All Expected Them to Cut

According to a new report over at Deadline, Will Beinbrink and Xavier Dolan have just joined the cast of Andy Muschietti's IT: Chapter Two. The former will be playing Tom Rogan, abusive husband to the now-all-grown-up Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain), while Dolan will be playing Adrian Mellon.

Yup, Adrian Mellon. 

If you're familiar with Stephen King's original novel, you'll recall Adrian Mellon as the gay Derry resident who gets beaten up and thrown off the Kissing Bridge in the book's opening pages. Upon landing, Mellon encounters Pennywise, and...well, as you can imagine, things don't go well for Mr. Mellon from there. 

In the novel, the homophobia that leads to Mellon's murder is the very same ignorance that leads Derry's investigating officers to treat the case as a freak occurrence rather than the full-blown hate crime that it is, all of which goes hand-in-hand with the rest of the rotten shit happening just under Derry's surface. As we all saw in IT: Chapter One, Pennywise's presence has infected the town, rendering adults apathetic and allowing some truly insidious shit to flourish: child murder, spousal abuse, and yes, even hate crimes. 

That IT: Chapter Two is keeping this plot point is very encouraging. Given the inherent constraints of screentime and the troubling subject matter, one wouldn't be unreasonable to expect this subplot to be the first thing to get jettisoned during the adaptation process.

Kudos to Muschietti and screenwriter Gary Dauberman for including it, then, and congratulations to the production on landing Xavier Dolan (an award-winning writer/director/performer who's been making his own films since he was in his teens) to fill out the role. This material's gonna be gnarly, of that we can be sure, but it's commendable that it's being included.

What do you folks think? Surprised to hear this subplot's making the cut? Excited to hear Dolan and Beinbrink are involved? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned for more on IT: Chapter Two as it becomes available. This is one of our most highly-anticipated titles for 2019, and we'll be covering it every step of the way.