Dream Casting The Losers Club From 'It' As Adults For The Sequel
6. Mike Hanlon: Idris Elba
Mike Hanlon, played by Chosen Jacobs, becomes a lot more of a player when it comes to Part II. Originally just another misfit in a Loser’s Club full of misfits, Mike ends up as the catalyst that brings the Losers back together in Part II, and as a result the actor who plays him must rise above the rest and become a main character. For this reason, Idris Elba is the man to play the adult version of Mike Hanlon.
At 45, Idris Elba is older than the rest of the proposed adult It cast, and that’s by design. In the novel, Mike Hanlon is the only member of the Loser’s Club that never made it out of Derry, and as a result he’s described as looking a lot older than his former friends. It seems that by being left behind and enduring the horrors over the years that his friends managed to escape took a toll on Mike. Both physically and emotionally, the adult version of Mike Hanlon needs to stand out as more mature than his friends, and that’s why Elba is perfect to play the older, grizzled Hanlon of the present.
Always seemingly knowing more than he’s letting on, never one to dismiss the notion of magic or horror when it comes to Pennywise, Mike is an It veteran. So who better to play a veteran of Stephen King horror than a man who was one of the only good things about this summer’s Stephen King dud, The Dark Tower?