Bill Skarsgård is the new Pennywise in Stephen King It adaptation

Coulrophobics, be warned

(Corbis via Getty Images)

Plans to make another adaptation of classic Stephen King novel It have been circulating for so long now it was almost becoming something of a Hollywood legend.

Now, after years of languishing in development hell, a casting announcement for Pennywise, the killer clown at the centre of the story, has finally been made: according to The Hollywood Reporter, Bill Skarsgård is to lead the film.

Directing It will be Andy Muschietti (Mama) who has assembled a cast including rising stars Jaeden Lieberher - recently seen in Midnight Special - Finn Wolfhard and Jack Dylan Grazer.

The story follows a group of old friends who must club together to fend off an entity that takes the form of an evil clown.

25-year-old Swedish actor Skarsgård has previous starring in Divergent sequel Allegiant and Eli Roth's Netflix series Hemlock Grove. As you may have gathered, he is the son of Stellan and brother of former True Blood star Alexander who will next be seen in The Legend of Tarzan.

The remake was originally a project being steered by Cary Fukunaga - the director behind the first season of Nic Pizzolatto's crime anthology True Detective - with The Revenant actor Will Poulter on board to don the makeup for the role of the murderous clown.

Tim Curry previously played Pennywise in a horror miniseries released in 1990.