The terrifying character Stephen King knew will outlive him

Through the 65 books graced by Stephen King’s name and the 200 short stories scattered among them, there are good, bad, and truly brutal characters filling the worlds he created and opened up to spread to others. With such a wide variety, everyone has a favorite that, more often than not, has jumped from page to screen to get a second life. Yet there is a name above all, which the author feels will outlive them all, and it will be a name which will perhaps outlive his own, long after he is gone so long as there is fear to be enjoyed.

In an interview with New York TimesKing predicted that Pennywise the Clown, the hideous child-eating monster from the movie “It,” will stand the test of time, even if he doesn’t. “When I was growing up, the great paperback writer was John D. MacDonald,” King recalls. “When he died, his works pretty much disappeared.” “I don’t know what will happen to my stuff when I die, but one thing I’m pretty sure of is that Pennywise will be around. The rest of the stuff may be gone, but 200 years from now, people will say, ‘Pennywise is really scary.’” Beep, beep, mister King.

There’s no doubt that King’s story about Derry’s most brutal residents became an even stronger scare thanks to the notable efforts of Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgård in taking on the role of Pennywise in their 1990 and 2017 adaptations of “It.” With their balloon-popping monsters that devour children, they have undoubtedly increased the number of people suffering from coulrophobia (fear of clowns). But perhaps the secret to why it’s so scary is that just like the nature of King’s monster, Pennywise’s trauma, like the losers who fight him, grows with us.

Many of the most beloved nightmares of literature, film and television are things to be feared because time is on their side. They are villains who can only die through specific means, and it takes a flawed and insulting hero (or heroes) to defeat them. However, to King’s team of plucky children, Pennywise is an embodiment of the past they have obscured. He suffers from childhood trauma with a button nose, tapping into fears they’ve struggled to forget, making him perhaps a more relatable monster that will truly outlast his creator. Regardless of the disappointing ending of the story (Which even Tim Curry wasn’t happy with)the existence of Pennywise lingers in the minds of anyone who has looked down a storm drain, or seen a stray red balloon floating in the sky and is likely to remain there given the plans for the killer clown’s future.

Just like any horror film, if the dread and fear it displays is strong enough to strike fear into its audience, it will last for years to come for generations to come, and Pennywise is no exception. King’s character is one that can be brought back to life for any brave soul who dares to step into the shoes of these terrifying clowns whether it’s 27 years or more later, and they will be joining a limited legacy that has done an impressive job of dealing with the creature.

while Tim Curry may be a favorite among movie readersSkarsgård’s time as Pennywise was certainly praiseworthy and enough of a draw ensures his return to Max’s as-yet-unreleased anthology series, Welcome to Derry. This show will focus on the creepy history that precedes the “It” movies and will see what kind of antics Pennywise did before Bill Denborough and the rest of the Loser’s Club decided to kill this damned clown. With this effort alone, there’s no doubt that Pennywise will still be spine-chilling for a few more years proving that if there’s doubt, there’s always time to send the clown in.