IT is a novel by Stephen King that recently saw a two-part adaptation from Andy Muschietti in 2017 and 2019. The book and movies center around a group of seven misfits known as the Losers Club: stuttering leader Bill (Jaeden Martell); fast-talking Riche (Finn Wolfhard); strong Beverly (Sophia Lillis); shy Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor); sickly Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer); kind Mike (Chosen Jacobs); and careful Stan (Wyatt Oleff).

The kids live in the town of Derry, Maine, which falls prey to attacks from the shape-shifting monster IT (Bill Skarsgård) every 27 years. After fighting IT as kids, they make a vow to return and stop IT if needed; however, they all grow up and forget the experience. When IT returns, the adult Losers must return to Derry to fulfill their bargain. Both movies were huge financial successes, and received praise for their casting, visuals, and overall story. While the movies did a good job adapting the source material, the book is over 1,100 pages long, and naturally, things were left out. Here are eight major differences between the book and the two movies.

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The Time Period

     Warner Bros. Pictures

One of the major changes in the movie is the time period. In the book, the Losers take on IT for the first time as children over the years 1957 and 1958. They return to finally kill IT in 1985. The movie version pushes this back; the Losers’ childhood experiences take place in 1988 and 1989, while they come back to Derry as adults in 2016. It creates a different, but no less memorable, atmosphere and setting for the characters. It also makes the movie another entry into the recent wave of 1980s nostalgia.

IT’s Forms

Tying into the time period change, the forms that IT takes on for each kid were altered to fit the era. IT mostly appears in the clown form of Pennywise, but also appears to Stan as a scary painting; in the book, IT became two dead kids to scare Stan. In the book, IT also takes the forms of a mummy and a werewolf, as seen in classic monster movies. These are switched out for more clown appearances and the form of a worker who died in an Ironworks explosion, likely because the original forms wouldn’t have been as relevant to the 1980s setting.

The Group Sex Scene

One of the more infamous scenes in the book comes when the Losers are kids, and get lost in the sewers after seemingly killing IT. With everyone scared, Beverly takes turns having sex with each of the boys, to unite the group and help them find the way out. The scene was controversial from the book’s release, and was left out of the 2017 and 1990 adaptations. King, speaking with Vulture, said he understood the omission, as times have changed, but also reflected on how people comment a lot about the sex scene, but “so little about the multiple child murders.”

Character Backstories

Several small details about the characters were changed as well. For example, in the first movie, Stan’s bar mitzvah is a large part of his story, while in the book, he is not as religious. In the movie, Mike loses both his parents in a fire as a kid, and often has visions of the event. However, in the book, his parents were alive until his father died of cancer. Ben, as a new kid in Derry, spends hours in the library and learns about Derry’s history, though Mike is the town historian in the book.

The Smoke Hole

A portion of the book deals with the origins of IT, who came to Earth in an asteroid, and has been harassing Derry for centuries. In the book, the group turns their clubhouse into a smoke hole, hoping to induce a psychic vision about ITs past, which Mike and Richie receive. In IT: Chapter Two, adult Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) drugs Bill (James McAvoy) instead, which causes him to have the vision.

Mike Being Present for the Final Fight

IT: Chapter Two sees the group descend into ITs lair one more time. Stan, who killed himself at the beginning of the movie out of fear of going back to Derry, is not present, but the other six are. In the book, however, the group is also without Mike, who is attacked by Henry Bowers, who does the bidding of IT and stabs Mike in the library. Having Mike there in the movie was arguably a better change, as it let the group be together.

The Final Fight/The Ritual of Chüd

While the adult group is successful and able to fully destroy IT, the battle is different. As kids, Bill learns about the Ritual of Chüd from the turtle, Maturin, who created the universe and is ITs enemy, per ScreenRant. The ritual is a battle of wills, which the kids perform without knowledge of its success. As adults, they succeed in the ritual, and destroy ITs heart. The movie’s battle happens differently; the adults are unable to complete the ritual, and instead win by telling IT how they’ve overcome their fears and that IT no longer has power over them.

The Losers Forget What Happened

At the end of IT: Chapter Two, the surviving adult Losers share some final moments together before moving in, and it’s implied that they’ll remember what happened, unlike when they were kids. However, in the book, the characters still begin forgetting about IT, Derry, and their friendship. Mike, who writes the events down, finds the words fading, and forgets his friends’ names. The novel ends with a bittersweet passage about Bill sometimes recalling a hazy memory of his childhood friends. While the movie’s ending is a bit happier, the book’s ending does give more finality.