Why Stephen King Is Wrong About Pennywise the Clown
Pennywise the Clown is arguably horror author Stephen King’s most famous creation. During an interview, he discussed the impact his novel It will have on popular culture after his death. His take on the situation seems a little myopic. The Carrie author doesn’t take his cinematic legacy into account as much as he should.
Stephen King said Pennywise the Clown will be around forever
During a 2022 interview with Bloody Disgusting, King revealed that he viewed Pennywise as his sturdiest creation. “I think that when I die I will kind of disappear from the paperback racks,” he opined. “But that f****** clown is going to live forever. That’s one thing I’ve got going for me.”
While King has written several sequels over the years, he won’t write a sequel to It. “Well, I don’t have a relationship to Pennywise now,” King said. “Because I have no intention of going back to It… it’s in the hands of people who are doing this. [Filmmakers] Andy and Barbara [Muschietti] are going to do Welcome to Derry, they’re talking about it anyway. And they’ve got sort of a handshake deal, I think, with HBO Max.”
Where Pennywise the Clown could go from here
King thought that a prequel about his malevolent gesture was a decent concept. “It’s an interesting possibility to do that,” he said. “They talked about a prequel. Which struck me as an OK idea. I’d love to see what Pennywise was up to 27 years before the ’50s. Or, I guess it would be the ’80s, because they updated the [setting]. So it would be, you know, before World War II or something. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen with that.”
While King was never a critical darling, he has inspired a number of critically acclaimed movies. Carrie, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Shining are often cited as some of the greatest films of all time and they continue to inspire filmmakers to this day. For this reason, it’s hard to imagine the world forgetting all of his work besides Pennywise the Clown.
Stephen King’s deep legacy
On top of that, there are few authors who have gained the level of recognition that King has had in the horror genre. Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker helped make the genre what it is today, however, they were both one-hit wonders. H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe released more horror classics, but they rarely wrote novels. King wrote more popular horror novels than anyone else. Now, he’s been derided by critics from time to time, but so many many authors who remained popular after their deaths, including Agatha Christie and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In addition, King’s literary reputation might improve after he dies.
On top of that, King has had a huge impact on his genre. It’s hard to name a living horror author who hasn’t been inspired by his work to some extent. For better or worse, his longstanding popularity ensures we will all be talking about characters like Carrie White and Jack Torrence for many years to come.
Love of hate Pennywise the Clown, he’s far from the only famous character that King created.
