Gary Dauberman is maybe most well-known for penning spinoffs of horror franchises. The mind behind Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, and Annabelle Comes Home has built his career around byproducts of the original Conjuring franchise, as well as co-writing the most recent It adaptation and its upcoming follow-up. With the latter on its way to theaters later this year, Dauberman was asked if he sees any potential for extensions of the franchise. His response was likely not what Stephen King fans were hoping to hear, though.
“I’m sure there’s interest but I got to say,” he said. “We want to be respectful to the material of the book. I don’t think anybody’s over there, in fact I know there’s no one over there going ‘Hey, let’s definitely do this and we could tell this story of what happened at the beaver trapping camp,’ or whatever.”
This is in reference to the long history of Pennywise the Clown, which dates back several centuries to when Derry, Maine was just a camp for trappers. While some may be fascinated with how the ancient cosmic evil came to be, Doberman doesn’t see much potential in it.
“While you could [tell that story], and I think it would be cool, I don’t think that’s what people are doing currently if that makes sense,” he said. “So yes, to answer your question I think there is room to build on the mythology of It because It has been around from the beginning of time, but I don’t know if there are any plans for it.”
For those currently lamenting the impending end of the series, keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that there will never be any spinoffs. If Hollywood has proven anything over these past few years, it’s that studios are willing to continue making offshoots of blockbusters as long as they feel those projects can make money. If the upcoming blood-soaked sequel ends up making even more than its predecessor, executives will look for any reason they can to continue putting Pennywise and the It franchise onscreen.