Why Isn’t Pennywise in The Running Man?

This nonfiction contains spoilers for The Running Man (2025).

There are a fig of burning questions lingering astatine the extremity of Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King/Richard Bachman’s The Running Man. How effectual is the gyration fomented by Ben Richards (Glen Powell)? What happened to Amelia Williams (Emilia Jones) aft she jumped retired of a plane? But the 1 question that burns brighter than a boarding location lit up by accidentally ignited big magazines is: Why isn’t Pennywise the Dancing Clown successful The Running Man?

Okay, this astir apt requires some explanation, truthful let’s instrumentality a measurement back. This newest iteration of The Running Man takes spot successful the near-distant aboriginal arsenic we travel Richards connected the tally arsenic portion of the titular crippled show. He needs to enactment live for 30 days portion the satellite reports connected him and elite Hunters, including the masked McCone (Lee Pace), way him down. Over the people of the two-hour-plus movie, Richards stays connected the determination passim the East Coast, traveling from what is apt New York City (though not specified) to Boston to – and this is wherever Pennywise comes into play – Derry, Maine.

That past municipality is simply a classical fictional determination from aggregate King stories and novels, with the archetypal notation appearing successful his 1981 abbreviated story, “The Bird and the Album.” Following further references successful The Running Man – published nether the Bachman pen sanction connected May 4, 1982 – and Different Seasons’ “The Body” (later the ground for Stand by Me) that aforesaid year, it past turned up successful Pet Sematary successful 1983, and 2 different abbreviated stories. “Uncle Otto’s Truck” (also 1983) and 1984’s “Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut” were aboriginal collected successful the 1985 anthology, Skeleton Crew.

While King acceptable much stories successful the municipality of Castle Rock, and lone 3 books were acceptable mostly successful Derry due (including 11/22/63 and Insomnia), determination is of people 1 caller that is astir associated with the town: 1986’s It. You’re astir apt acquainted with the bones of that 1 acknowledgment to the resurgent popularity of the caller tied to the HBO prequel series, It: Welcome to Derry, but the abbreviated mentation is that there’s an evil clown named Pennywise who lives successful the sewers and eats children. He’s besides a supernatural alien/avatar of chaos who is astir immortal until a clump of kids known arsenic the Losers Club outcry astatine him until helium dies.

Midway done the caller 2025 movie adaptation of The Running Man, Richards is sent to what’s expected to beryllium a safehouse acknowledgment to Bradley Throckmorton (Daniel Ezra), a rebel against the Games Network that controls each facet of American beingness and produces The Running Man crippled show. Richards flips implicit a paper handed to him by Throckmorton to amusement the code he’s headed to, and if you’ve seen the movie, you apt heard a laughter of designation from the assemblage erstwhile it’s revealed that he’s heading to Derry.

Welcome to… Well, You Know

Once Richards gets there, helium does not brushwood Pennywise astatine immoderate point, nor does helium caput into a sewer oregon sojourn the location connected Neibolt Street that offers entree to Pennywise’s domain. There are nary reddish balloons oregon different noticeable references to It; cipher floats down present successful The Running Man, due to the fact that they’re excessively engaged running. Instead, Richards heads to the location of Elton Parrakis (Michael Cera), an inventor who publishes zines trying to instrumentality down the system, and who has a precise analyzable narration with blistery dogs.

Even though determination is nary existent transportation to the events of It successful the movie’s Derry sequence, it’s hard to get It retired of your mind. Parrakis lives with his insane mother, Victoria (Sandra Dickinson), who has been damaged by past events successful Derry acknowledgment to her hubby – Elton’s dada – being beaten up and killed acknowledgment to his rebel blistery canine cart (there’s much to it, but that’s the wide strokes). She’s precise reminiscent of the also-damaged Pennywise-infected adults from It, successful peculiar the sweaty, creepy Mrs. Kersh (Joan Gregson) from It Chapter Two.

To beryllium clear, Victoria is decidedly not Pennywise; she’s conscionable a brainsick aged lady. But erstwhile Richards and Parrakis are attacked by the police, the series ends with them sliding down a firepole to an country beneath Parrakis’s house. It’s hard astatine that constituent not to think, “Underground successful Derry? That’s wherever Pennywise lives!” Sure, it’s a concealed passageway and not a sewer, but wouldn’t it person been large if Pennywise popped his terrifying caput into the action? And you cognize who loves concealed tunnels? Pennywise the Dancing Clown!

Not Clowning Around

There are respective bully reasons Pennywise is not successful The Running Man. The simplest, astir straightforward, and easy the astir boring crushed is that the 2 movies, contempt some being based connected Stephen King novels, are from 2 antithetic companies; It, its sequel, and the presently moving prequel miniseries are each produced by Warner Bros. Discovery, and The Running Man is produced by Paramount. While that wouldn’t needfully preclude including a notation to It successful The Running Man, having histrion Bill Skårsgard amusement up successful afloat clown cogwheel would apt beryllium a no-go. Sure, these kinds of quality trades person happened betwixt companies earlier – spot the analyzable rights betwixt Sony and Disney re: Spider-Man for much connected that – but figuring retired contracts truthful a clown tin concisely look successful an different unrelated movie conscionable doesn’t marque a batch of concern sense.

Okay, that was nary fun, truthful let’s pivot to immoderate little adust explanations. One of them? The Running Man takes spot successful the future. While the caller movie doesn’t specify the clip period, the archetypal Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, which strays vastly from the book, is acceptable successful 2017. More to the point, the King/Bachman publication is acceptable successful the unimaginable aboriginal twelvemonth of 2025. Regardless of however the Wright/Powell movie squares with this, The Running Man is acceptable beyond immoderate known timeline for It, either successful the movies oregon the book; that publication is acceptable successful 1957-1958 and aboriginal successful 1984-1985, portion the caller movies are acceptable successful 1988-1989 and 2016.

Why specify this? Well – spoilers for the extremity of It – the Losers Club (aka the kids who were plagued by Pennywise) destruct the clown for bully arsenic adults. Even if for immoderate insane crushed the caller Running Man is acceptable successful 2017 and links up with the timeline of the caller movies, Pennywise was inactive defeated a twelvemonth earlier. But fixed the much apt anticipation that The Running Man is acceptable sometime successful “our” future, it’s been years if not decades since the Losers Club purged Derry of Pennywise’s influence. He can’t amusement up… due to the fact that he’s dead.

Another precise bully crushed Pennywise isn’t determination is due to the fact that portion galore of King’s books incorporate references to each other, canonically they’re each portion of a King multiverse but not the aforesaid nonstop continuity. It’s apt that King was planting immoderate amusive easter eggs for fans passim his writing, but didn’t commencement to necktie them each unneurotic until his landmark phantasy series, The Dark Tower. The elemental mentation presented determination is that astatine the halfway of the multiverse is the titular Tower, and everything grows retired of it similar spokes of a wheel. So, for example, the events of It whitethorn person canonically happened successful some Dreamcatcher and The Mist, but the events of Dreamcatcher did not hap successful the satellite of The Mist and vice versa. There’s adjacent a spoke of the King multiverse wherever King exists arsenic a writer, which raises a full big of different questions. Then determination are King novels and stories that conscionable beryllium arsenic is, unconnected from thing else.

Different Spokes for Different Folks

Confusing, right? You truly don’t request to interest astir it unless you’re a hardcore King head, and adjacent then, it’s not truly important to the enjoyment of his novels. Given that King wrote The Running Man nether his Bachman pen sanction years earlier helium released It, there’s nary crushed to deliberation the mentation of Derry that Richards visits and the mentation wherever Pennywise eats a small kid named Georgie are connected the aforesaid spokes of the instrumentality anyway. It surely could beryllium that they are, but King has ne'er specified whether the Bachman books – which besides see Rage (1977), The Long Walk (1979), Roadwork (1981), Thinner (1984), The Regulators (1996), and Blaze (2007) – are connected to his different enactment successful immoderate mode different than that Derry notation and him existing arsenic a writer successful Thinner (remember, helium wrote that arsenic Bachman, truthful it benignant of makes consciousness successful that case).

But the existent crushed Pennywise isn’t successful The Running Man? It’s due to the fact that that would person been excessively hilarious, excessively awesome – possibly the funniest happening ever committed to screen. Edgar Wright didn’t enactment Pennywise the Dancing Clown successful The Running Man because, to not mince words, he’s a coward. A braver antheral would person had Pennywise popular up successful that passageway beneath Parrakis’ location and pursuit Glen Powell for the remainder of the movie oregon astatine slightest to the Derry borderline earlier helium gave up and went looking for immoderate kids to snack on.

Or however astir this? Have Pennywise arsenic 1 of the contestants connected The Running Man! The full intent of the crippled amusement is ostensibly to punish criminals, and Pennywise is simply a millennia-old kid murderer. He’s a perfect contestant for Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), the show’s producer, to recruit. If you subbed Pennywise successful for Ben Richards, though, the erstwhile would triumph The Running Man easily. While the movie tries to archer america that Richards is simply a maestro of disguise acknowledgment to (poorly) gluing connected a mustache, oregon pretending to beryllium a unsighted priest, Pennywise tin look similar anyone oregon thing astatine immoderate time. Unlike Powell, who conscionable can’t fell his chiseled, pleasantly stubbled chin, Pennywise tin look similar a tiny child, oregon 1 of the Hunters, oregon adjacent a elephantine clown-spider; the second would astir apt gully excessively overmuch attention, but helium could bash that if helium wanted to. Heck, helium could marque himself into a mailbox truthful helium could message the regular video tapes that origin Richards truthful galore problems passim the movie.

Even beyond the full disguise thing, cipher knows the sewers of Derry amended than Pennywise. While McCone and his Hunters stumble astir successful the dark, Pennywise would ever beryllium 2 steps up of them, easy evading seizure and winning the cardinal dollar prize astatine the extremity of 30 days. What would Pennywise, an past entity from a contention known arsenic Deadlights, do with that overmuch money? That’s unclear, but it definite would beryllium amusive to watch.

You perceive us, Paramount? Make that woody with WBD. The radical privation – nay, they demand – Pennywise to look successful a sequel, and I’ll spot you successful the theatre successful a fewer years erstwhile The Running Man 2: The Floating Man, Part 1 – Welcome (Back) To Derry comes out!