The highly-anticipated sequel to IT is assembling a rock solid cast, and with names like Bill Hader and Jessica Chastain attached, the wait for Chapter Two is becoming increasingly painful. With the addition of Jay Ryan as the grown-up Ben Hanscom, the ensemble is this close to being complete, leaving us to eager to find out who the heck director Andy Muschietti will enlist for the key role of Mike Hanlon.

Deadline reports that Jay Ryan is the latest actor to join the quickly-growing cast of IT: Chapter Two. Ryan, whose credits include supporting roles in Hulu’s Mary Kills People and the first season of Top of the Lake, will play the role of Ben Hanscom, portrayed in the first film by Jeremy Ray Taylor. As fans of Stephen King’s horror classic know, our little Ben — heavily-bullied for his larger size — grows up to become quite a looker. More like BEN HANDSOME AM I RIGHT.

Ryan is joining a cast that already includes Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, Bill Hader as Richie Tozier, James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, James Ransone as Eddie Kaspbrak, and Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise, aka the eponymous IT. More recently, Muschietti cast Here and Now’s Andy Bean as grown-up Stanley Uris — despite speculation that the director might go for a bigger name, based on Stanley’s limited but pivotal role in the book. With Ryan’s casting, all that’s left is the role of older Mike Hanlon, played by Chosen Jacobs in the first film.

The sequel, scripted by IT writer Gary Dauberman, picks up almost three decades after the first film. The members of the Losers Club, now grown-up and scattered across the country, are hit with a sudden tragedy that forces them to make good on their blood pact and return to Derry to confront the evil entity known as IT once more.

IT: Chapter Two will hit theaters on September 6, 2019.

More From Classic Rock Q107