Stephen King Doesn’t Think the Preteen Orgy in 'It' Is a Big Deal

The biggest superhero at the box office in 2017 was probably Pennywise the Clown. The new big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic It took in 685 million bucks. And It won’t stop there. Because the movie only adapts the first half of the book, a sequel is coming on September 6, 2019. But neither that sequel or the impending It Blu-ray will contain one infamous scene in the novel that was deleted from the movie.

When It hits streaming platforms on December 19 this year, there won’t be a special feature containing some crazy version of the scene from the books. But, that’s probably okay. In fact, author Stephen King probably won’t care at all. He’s famous for his 2013 comments in which he said that the scene in the novel wasn’t really a big deal. Between the supernatural demon that takes the form of a fear-mongering clown, the lepers and werewolves, and the child murder, Stephen King’s It is a lot to take in. And that’s discounting the inclusion of a preteen orgy, a controversial scene that King stands by to this day.

This post contains spoilers for It (movie, 2017) and It (novel, 1986).

In the latest adaptation of King’s 1986 novel, 2017’s It — the first feature film to throw the Losers’ Club on the big screen — King’s child heroes remain a bit more innocent than they did in the novel. Meaning: There’s no underage gangbang in the film.

Because, in the book, the kids get lost after defeating It in the sewers of Derry, Maine. In order to get out, they have to cement the bonds of friendship, or something, and to do that the boys take turns having sex with Beverly, the only girl in the group. Then they stop being lost — for some reason.

And no matter your thoughts on authorial intent and the importance of “accurate” adaptations, King certainly has strong feelings on the original scene in the book.

A 2013 forum on StephenKing.com detailed King’s thoughts on the scene 27 years after its initial introduction to the world.

I wasn’t really thinking of the sexual aspect of it. The book dealt with childhood and adulthood –1958 and Grown Ups. The grown ups don’t remember their childhood. None of us remember what we did as children–we think we do, but we don’t remember it as it really happened. Intuitively, the Losers knew they had to be together again. The sexual act connected childhood and adulthood. It’s another version of the glass tunnel that connects the children’s library and the adult library. Times have changed since I wrote that scene and there is now more sensitivity to those issues.

In an article published on Friday, Vulture reached out to King for an updated statement. King confirmed that he stood by the answer from 2013, but added: “It’s fascinating to me that there has been so much comment about that single sex scene and so little about the multiple child murders. That must mean something, but I’m not sure what.”

Fair enough. Some might argue that underage sewer orgies and child murder aren’t exactly equatable, but we digress.

Check out Inverse’s review of It.

It is now playing in theaters.

If you liked this article, check out this video on why there’s no werewolf in It.