The conclusion to IT hit theaters this past weekend and became the second highest grossing opening weekend horror film of all time. In the film, Director Andy Muschietti and writer Gary Dauberman made some changes to Stephen King’s IT novel to deliver, with one of these changes being more overt references to a character being gay, a change which King supports.
Interestingly, some audiences felt character’s sexual orientation was an amplification of the subtext of the book, though King himself claims that those weren’t his intentions when writing the novel.
Despite those not being his original intentions for the character, King noted how he appreciated the inclusion of this character development as it mirrored the horrifying hate crime of the film and book’s opening. During an Interview with Vanity Fair, King commented on whether Richie was intended to be gay in his novel,
“No, I never did,”
“But again, it’s one of those things that’s kind of genius, because it echoes the beginning. It comes full circle.”
“At least there’s love involved. Somebody cares for [Eddie,]” the author added. “And that echoes the love that Adrian’s partner has for him. So that was cool.”
IT: Chapter Two is now in theaters.
