He may have started out as the Old Spice Guy from those cheesy commercials, but Isaiah Mustafa has carved out a pretty decent career for himself. He had a role in Horrible Bosses, and recently wrapped on the final season of Shadowhunters in which he was a regular star. But his biggest role has just landed, as he’ll play Mike Hanlon in sequel It: Chapter 2.
Mustafa’s casting puts the final touches on the grown-up Losers Club. Jessica Chastain was previously cast as Bev, with James McAvoy as Bill, Jay Ryan as Ben, Bill Hader as Richie, James Ransone as Eddie, and Andy Bean as Stan. Bill Skarsgard is returning as their nemesis, Pennywise the Clown, whose return three decades later calls the group back to their home in Derry.
Just as in the Stephen King novel, Mike will have stuck around in Derry after the others left town to live their lives. It’s had a tremendous impact on him, with director Andy Muschietti saying Mike may have taken to drugs to cope.
“My idea of Mike in the second movie is quite darker from the book. I want to make his character the one pivotal character who brings them all together, but staying in Derry took a toll with him. I want him to be a junkie actually. A librarian junkie. When the second movie starts, he’s a wreck…“He’s not just the collector of knowledge of what Pennywise has been doing in Derry. He will bear the role of trying to figure out how to defeat him. The only way he can do that is to take drugs and alter his mind.”
It: Chapter 2 opens September 6th 2019.
