Whatever Happened To The Original Losers Club From It?
The 1990 television adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel "IT" may be best known for Tim Curry's performance as Pennywise, who made an entire generation seriously terrified of clowns, but it would be nothing without the heart and soul of the Loser's Club. In the 1950s, a group of misfit kids growing up in Derry, Maine are brought together, partially because they don't belong anywhere else, but also because they happen to be targeted by the malevolent force that haunts their town, stealing and murdering its local children. Together, they have to face off against Pennywise to stop the killing once and for all. That's what they think, anyway. But despite defeating Pennywise as children, they're forced to return to Derry as adults and once again confront the terrors of their youth.
As a result of this, "IT" has an interesting casting dilemma of finding not only seven children who could take on these heavy roles, but seven actors to play their adult counterparts. For the most part, "IT" succeeded in this, bringing together a memorable cast of both kids and adults, some of whom went on to fame after appearing in the miniseries, while others have followed different career paths. But where is the cast of "IT' now? Let's find out.
Jonathan Brandis (Young Bill)
By the time Jonathan Brandis was cast as the young Bill Denbrough in "IT," he had already been working as a child actor in Hollywood for years, appearing in episodes of "Full House, "Webster," "L.A. Law," and "Who's the Boss," amongst others. He brought a sense of maturity and wisdom beyond his years to the role, making him a perfect fit for the leader of the Loser's Club.
In the same year as "IT," Brandis appeared in the lead role of Bastian in "The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter," and his career continued to flourish throughout the early '90s, with performances in films like "Ladybugs" and "Outside Providence," as well as the TV series "SeaQuest 2032," which ran from 1993-1996. Throughout most of the decade, he was considered one of the reigning heartthrobs for the young teen set.
Sadly, Brandis' work in film tapered off as he reached adulthood, and after having a few false starts — he was cast in "Hart's War," but had most of his scenes cut, and had a failed audition for "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" — he died by suicide on November 12, 2003, at the age of 27.
Seth Green (Young Richie)
As young as Seth Green is in "IT," he was already a seasoned acting professional by the time he took on the role of class clown Richie Tozier in 1990. His early performances include a bit part in "My Stepmother is an Alien" alongside his future "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" co-star Alyson Hannigan and stealing the show as a young Patrick Dempsey's kid brother in "Can't Buy Me Love."
Since then, he's had a thriving career, honing his skills as a comic actor throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In addition to being a series regular and resident werewolf on "Buffy," he also played the maladjusted son of Dr. Evil in the "Austin Powers" franchise.
In recent years, he's turned his attention to voice work, lending his talents to the Marvel universe as Howard the Duck, as well as bring a regular on "Family Guy," making guest appearances on "Star Wars: The Bad Batch," as well as voicing many characters in "Robot Chicken," which he also co-created. He still does on-screen work from time to time as well, though, most recently in the 2024 Sundance premiere "Little Death" starring David Schwimmer."
Brandon Crane (Young Ben)
Sweet Ben "Haystack" Hanscom was the poet of the Losers Club, desperately pining after Beverly from a distance. He was played by Brandon Crane, who began working in commercials when he was just four years old. He went on a bit of a hot streak in the late 1980s and early 1990s, booking work on "Full House," "Step by Step," "It's Garry Shandling's Show," and several others. His biggest role by far was on "The Wonder Years," where he played Doug Porter for 18 episodes.
But after 1991, he took a step away from Hollywood, appearing only sporadically on-screen over the years. But he never lost his love for acting, and after high school, he began working in theater in Southern California. He is currently married with two daughters, and runs Solid Fuel Creative, a design agency.
The resurgence of "IT" with the recent big-screen adaptations has brought Crane back in the spotlight — much like Stephen King made a cameo in "It: Chapter Two," Crane also popped up in the movie, and he has a role in an upcoming horror comedy called "The Witches of the Sands."
Adam Faraizl (Young Eddie)
Like many of his young costars, Adam Faraizl was already a working actor when he signed on for "IT," playing the diminutive, sickly Eddie Kasprack. Before "IT," he had appearances in "RoboCop 2," "Lonesome Dove," and "Johnny Be Good" — all this by the age of 13. But after his performance in the horror classic, his Hollywood career quickly disappeared, a common enough occurrence for actors as they grow out of their child star years and either abandon the industry to focus on school or struggle to transition into more mature roles.
Faraizl seems to have naturally gravitated away from the acting business — although he has a short film listed in his upcoming projects on IMDb, that's one of only two films he's been involved in since 1992. Instead, he's taken his career in a more boozy direction. Sake, to be exact. After getting a degree in Pacific Asian studies at the University of Victoria in Canada, Faraizl became a sake expert and a Certified Specialist of Wine. Just think of how Eddie's straight-laced mother would clutch her pearls!
Emily Perkins (Young Beverly)
Sweet little Beverly. She's put through the wringer in so many different ways over the course of the two episodes of "IT," and Emily Perkins is the one who has to bear the brunt of it. Although she was a working actor before she appeared in "IT," the Stephen King adaptation was her big break, and the majority of her notable roles took place well after it came out. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, she was a working actress in the truest sense of the word, quietly putting in her time in smaller parts with the occasional major role over the years.
In 2000, she starred as Brigitte in the teen horror classic "Ginger Snaps," also appearing in the franchise's many sequels. She turned up in a variety of other films as well, including "Prozac Nation," "Insomnia," "She's the Man," and "Juno." Her most recent role is arguably her most memorable — at least among "Supernatural" fans. In four episodes over the course of the series run, she played superfan Becky Rosen, whose obsession with the Winchester brothers brings meta-humor to the popular genre show.
Ben Heller (Young Stanley)
Compared to his co-stars in "IT," Ben Heller was totally new to the business when he played Jewish boy scout Stan Uris of the Losers Club. In fact, until 2019, when he made an appearance in "IT"-themed horror short called "Georgie," it was his only acting credit. But that doesn't mean that he didn't have a career in the entertainment industry.
Instead of working in front of the camera, Heller sporadically worked as part of the loop group for various films, which is when actors record background dialogue in a studio so that scenes aren't jarringly silent when you can see extras' mouths moving. Between 1998 and 2017, he performed this role for the Julia Roberts-led drama "Stepmom," "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and the remake of "Flatliners."
Other than that, though, Ben Heller seems to have fallen off the public radar, with little information available on what he's been doing since being professionally terrified by Pennywise. One thing we do know is that he's slated to make another on-screen appearance in 2025, in a horror film called "The Farmhouse Murders."
Marlon Taylor (Young Mike)
Mike is the quiet, unassuming member of the Losers Club — but he's also the one who understands Pennywise and the evils of Derry the most, and thus holds the key to the monster's destruction. Marlon Taylor was just starting out as an actor when he was cast in "IT," with brief appearances on "Just the Ten of Us" and "Doctor Doctor." He continued to work for a few years into the 1990s, even making an appearance on "Sister Sister" alongside his adult Mike counterpart Tim Reid. But aside from a prominent role in a short-lived sitcom called "You Take the Kids," his career in Hollywood didn't really take off after appearing in "IT."
Still, there are signs that he's making moves to reignite his acting career. Taylor popped up in an episode of "Z Nation" in 2017, nearly a decade after his last on-screen role. He also appears to have two new projects in the works — "The Farmhouse Murders" and "Lisa" — both of which will see him reunited with various members of the Losers Club.
Annette O'Toole (Beverly)
Annette O'Toole has a face that most people will remember — especially fans of Superman, since she's made multiple appearances in his various film and television adaptations. Beginning her career as a teenager in the late 1960s on shows like "My Three Sons" and "This Is the Life," she's never gone long without high-profile work at her fingertips. In addition to playing Lana Lang in "Superman III," and Martha Kent throughout various seasons of "Smallville," O'Toole has received acclaim for her work as Lisa Bridges on "Nash Bridges" and "Blow the Man Down."
But perhaps O'Toole's biggest success came not as an actress, but as a songwriter — she was nominated for a Best Original sSong Academy Award alongside her husband Michael McKean for their work on "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" in Christopher Guest's hilarious mockumentary comedy "A Mighty Wind."
Now in her early 70s, O'Toole is still going strong as a performer. She has had a recurring role as the mayor on the Netflix drama "Virgin River" since 2019, and she currently has a horror film in post-production called "Eugene the Marine."
Richard Thomas (Bill)
What you know Richard Thomas from is entirely dependent on what generation you belong to. Aside from his performance as Bill Denbrough in "IT," viewers of a certain age will likely remember him as John-Boy, the eldest son on the pure-as-the-driven-snow family drama "The Waltons," which was one of his first major roles beginning back in 1972 when he was 21 years old.
But those are far from his only big roles. He acted in the critically acclaimed "Wonder Boys" alongside Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr, and Tobey Maguire in 2000, and he appeared on television throughout the 2010s on shows like "Rizzoli & Isles," "The Good Wife," "White Collar," "Blue Bloods, and "Elementary." Perhaps his most interesting work in recent years was his recurring role on "The Americans," playing FBI special agent Frank Gaad, a darker and more authoritative role that stands in contrast to much of his other, more family-friendly performances. His most recent on-screen role was in 2022, when he had a six-episode arc in Jason Bateman's Netflix drama "Ozark."
Harry Anderson (Richie)
By the time Harry Anderson took on the role of the adult Richie Tozier, who has parlayed his wisecracking sense of humor into a successful career as a radio personality, he was already an institution in Hollywood. He was catapulted to fame in 1984 with his starring role in the popular TV sitcom "Night Court," where he played Harry T. Stone, an eccentric judge whose courtroom is a state of perpetual chaos. The show ran for eight years, earning him three Emmy nominations in 1985, 1986, and 1987, respectively. He found success with another long-running television series, "Dave's World," in which he played a journalist living in the burbs for almost 100 episodes.
Those were his biggest TV credits, but Harry Anderson also had a thriving career as a stage magician, and he frequently toured throughout the 1990s and 2000s. His on-screen appearances became more sporadic after that, and his last role was as a biology professor insistent on teaching evolution rather than creationism in his college classroom (what a monster, right?) in 2014's Christian drama "A Matter of Faith." Sadly, in 2018 Anderson had a bad flu, the complications from which ended up leading to several strokes, and he passed away in his sleep at 65.
John Ritter (Ben)
Like many of the other adult stars of "IT," John Ritter had an impressive TV pedigree when he was cast as the grown-up version of Ben Hanscom, a talented architect who had long since escaped the bullies of Derry. The son of Tex Ritter, a famous country singer, he began his career in the early 1970s, snagging his first recurring role on "The Waltons," in which he appeared alongside fellow "IT" alum Richard Thomas. He found stardom in the 1970s, when he was cast as Jack Tripper alongside Suzanne Somers in the extremely popular sitcom "Three's Company," which made him a household name al.
After appearing in "IT," Ritter continued working steadily. He was featured on shows as varied as "Touched by an Angel," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "NewsRadio," and "Felicity." His most popular TV show after "Three's Company," was undoubtedly the family sitcom "Eight Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter," in which he starred alongside Katey Sagal, Kaley Cuoco, and Amy Davidson. Tragically, he had a medical emergency while on set in September 2003, and he passed away later that day of an aortic dissection at just 54 years old.
Dennis Christopher (Eddie)
Eddie Kasprak is, putting it kindly, a little bit of an oddball, the type of role that Dennis Christopher certainly had experience playing. After starring in the cycling coming-of-age drama "Breaking Away" (for which he won a BAFTA in 1980 for most promising newcomer), he took on the delightfully bizarre lead role of Eric Binford, a film buff who goes on a murder spree, in "Fade to Black." The following year, he appeared as an American runner in the sports drama "Chariots of Fire." After those three high-profile performances, Christopher split his time between film and television, with recurring roles on shows like "Profiler," "Freakylinks," and "Deadwood."
Arguably his biggest post-2000 role came when he was cast in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" as Leo Moguy, the villainous Calvin Candie's lawyer — a role that the movie-loving Tarantino had rewritten in the script specifically for him, as a fan of his work. Christopher's most recent performance was in 2016, when he appeared in six episodes of the Nick Nolte-led political comedy "Graves."
Richard Masur (Stanley)
Honestly, it doesn't even matter that Richard Masur as the older version of Stan Uris is barely in "IT." (He is, you may remember, the only one of the losers who doesn't return to Derry, his all-consuming fear getting the best of him.) His screen presence is so strong that he makes you feel like he's occupying much more space in the miniseries than he actually is. A prominent character actor working in Hollywood since the 1970s, there are honestly not that many films and TV shows that Masur wasn't in. He appeared in everything from "The Thing" to "Risky Business" to "My Girl," making a name for himself as a go-to supporting lead. He even served as the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1995 to 1999.
Now 75, Masur is still as busy as ever. In 2023 alone, he made appearances in "Kaleidoscope," "The Equalizer," and "Another Year Together." He's currently appearing in the MAX drama "The Girls on a Bus," which follows a troupe of female journalists covering the election beat (and maybe discovering political scandal along the way).
Tim Reid (Mike)
In contrast to all the other adult losers, who are just getting their memories of Pennywise back and freaking out about the monster that they're going to have to face, Mike is a calming presence. After all, he's the one who stayed behind, knowing that one day they would have to do this all over again, and they were going to need someone on the ground to read the warning signs and sound the alarm. For that kind of stable, warm resiliency, Tim Reid was a perfect choice.
He got his start as an actor working on television in the 1970s, making appearances on shows like "Rhoda," "The Richard Pryor Show," "Maude," and "What's Happening!!" In 1978, Reid got his first major role, starring in "WKRP in Cincinnati" for nearly 100 episodes. From then on, he was a fixture on television, and many millennial audiences may recognize him as the level-headed yet overprotective dad to Tia and Tamara Mowry on "Sister Sister." In recent years, he seems to have shifted to the holiday movie market, making appearances in films such as "My Christmas Inn," "Radio Christmas," "Check Inn to Christmas," "Baking Christmas," "A Welcome Home Christmas," and "A New Orleans Noel."
Now, if you've moved on to wondering what's going on with the young cast of the two-part adaptation of Stephen King's "It," we've got you covered.