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Still from It Chapter Two (2019)
Character · by Callan Brooks

Richie Tozier: Who He Is and Who Plays Him in the IT Movies

Richie Tozier is the wisecracking member of the Losers Club in the IT movies, played by Finn Wolfhard as a kid in It (2017) and by Bill Hader as an adult in It Chapter Two (2019). Both films were directed by Andy Muschietti, and Wolfhard also returns in the sequel as Young Richie Tozier in the flashbacks.

Image: TMDB

Who Plays Young Richie Tozier?

Who Is Richie Tozier in the IT Movies?

Richie Tozier is one of the seven outcast kids who form the Losers Club in the IT movies, which adapt Stephen King's novel about a shape-shifting evil that preys on the children of Derry, Maine. In It (2017), directed by Andy Muschietti, he is introduced as one of the wisecracking friends, along with Eddie and Stan, who help Bill Denbrough search for his missing little brother Georgie in the summer after the boy is dragged into a storm drain.

Finn Wolfhard plays Richie as a child in both films, and Bill Hader plays him as an adult in It Chapter Two (2019). The credits list the role as "Richie Tozier" for Hader and "Young Richie Tozier" for Wolfhard in the sequel, while Wolfhard is credited simply as "Richie Tozier" in the first film.

Richie has played on television too. Seth Green played young Richie in the 1990 miniseries, and IT: Welcome to Derry (2025) is an HBO series. Both are television, so this profile sticks to the two films. For the wider group, see our guide to the Losers Club and the full list of IT characters.

Young Richie Tozier Films

Richie Tozier's Story Arc Across Both FilmsSpoilers

Richie's arc runs from a joking kid who hides fear behind banter to an adult who returns to Derry and recovers memories he had forgotten. In It (2017), he joins Bill, Eddie and Stan in the hunt for clues about Georgie, and then teams up with Ben, Beverly and Mike after clashes with the bully Henry Bowers. Each child is haunted by visions built around their own fears, and the group works out that a creature they call It wakes about every 27 years to feed on Derry's children.

Their research leads to the abandoned house on Neibolt Street, which is the creature's way into the sewers. The encounter there ends with Beverly driving a spike into the monster's head, though Ben is hurt, and the group falls apart under the strain. When Pennywise snatches Beverly, the boys go back for her. Down in the sewers, Pennywise offers to let the others go if they leave Bill behind. The Losers refuse, fight together, wound the creature and swear a blood oath to return if It ever comes back.

In It Chapter Two, the story jumps 27 years to 2016. Mike Hanlon, the one Loser who never left town, phones his old friends, and Richie is among the five who return for a dinner that quickly turns frightening. Stanley has died by suicide rather than come back. Mike sends each of them on a separate search for a personal object needed for a ritual, and every search brings memories they had forgotten. Richie kills Henry Bowers at the library, and he then goes into the sewers with the others, where Pennywise takes a huge spider-like form and tries to break them with their worst fears.

Richie's Relationships Within the Losers Club

Richie's closest ties are with the boys he searches with first: Bill, Eddie and Stan. In the first film, he is one of the three friends who join Bill's hunt for Georgie, which makes him part of the group before Ben, Beverly and Mike arrive. His bond with Eddie Kaspbrak matters most in the sequel, because Eddie is fatally impaled while saving Richie in the sewers.

Bill Denbrough is the leader Richie follows into the Neibolt Street house and back down for Beverly. Stanley Uris is the third boy in that first search party, and his death in Chapter Two is the first sign that the reunion has a cost. Beverly Marsh, Ben Hanscom and Mike Hanlon complete the seven. Mike is the one who calls the adults home.

His enemies are Henry Bowers, who bullies the whole group, and Pennywise, who preys on each Loser through personal visions. Richie ends Henry's threat in the library fight in Chapter Two.

What Happens to Richie Tozier in It Chapter Two?Spoilers

Richie Tozier survives It Chapter Two, though the fight in the sewers beneath Derry costs him Eddie Kaspbrak, who is fatally impaled while saving him. Eddie's body is left behind when the lair collapses, and the remaining Losers mock Pennywise until the creature shrinks and weakens, then crush its heart so that It dies.

The film names three other losses: Stanley takes his own life before the reunion, and Mike is fatally wounded in the library fight after Richie kills Henry Bowers. Afterward the scars on the Losers' hands fade, which shows the curse is broken, and the friends go their separate ways. Bill reads the letter Stanley left for them, which ends by saying they are Losers and always will be.

The story is closed, with no sequel set up at the end of the film. For anything beyond the two films, see the next IT film page, where no date has been announced.

Best Richie Tozier Moments, Ranked by Fear and Humor

In my opinion, Richie is the character who shows best how the IT movies use humor as a shield against a monster that feeds on fear. The three moments below are my picks, so treat them as opinion, not fact.

1. The refusal in the sewers (It (2017)). When Pennywise offers to let the others go if they abandon Bill, Richie is one of the friends being tempted, and the group says no and fights together. It is the clearest proof, as I read it, that the banter in the earlier scenes sat on top of real loyalty.

2. Mocking the creature (It Chapter Two). The Losers shrink Pennywise by mocking it, and it could be argued that this is the payoff for a character built on banter. A group that spent two films joking through terror finally turns mockery into a weapon, which suits Richie better than any speech would.

3. The library fight (It Chapter Two). Richie kills Henry Bowers while Mike is fatally wounded, and the scene costs the group dearly. As such, it is the film's most serious beat for him, and it shows how far the kid from the Neibolt Street house has traveled.

If you want to see how Richie's films stack up against each other, our IT movies ranked page covers both.

Facts

FAQs

Who plays Richie Tozier?

Finn Wolfhard plays Richie as a child in It (2017) and as Young Richie Tozier in It Chapter Two (2019). Bill Hader plays the adult Richie in It Chapter Two. Andy Muschietti directed both films. In the 1990 miniseries, Seth Green played young Richie.

Is Richie Tozier in IT: Welcome to Derry?

IT: Welcome to Derry (2025) is an HBO television series, not one of the IT films. Richie's film appearances are It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019), and this profile covers only those.

Is Richie Tozier the son of Marge?

Neither film names a mother for Richie, and no parent appears among the top billed cast of It (2017) or It Chapter Two. The films keep Richie's family offstage and focus on his friends instead, so no answer about Marge comes from the movies.

Who is Richie's father in it?

Neither IT film credits a father for Richie among its top billed cast. His story in both movies runs through the Losers Club, not his home life, so the films leave his father unseen.

What does beep beep Richie mean?

It is a teasing catchphrase from the Losers' banter in Stephen King's novel, used to tell Richie to stop talking. It suits a character who jokes through fear, though the plots of the two films do not depend on it.

Was Richie Tozier in love with Eddie?

The sequel makes Richie's bond with Eddie Kaspbrak its emotional core, since Eddie is fatally impaled while saving him in the sewers. Many viewers read that bond as love. In my opinion, that reading fits how the film plays the loss, but it is an interpretation of the story, not a fact stated in the plot.