Mike Hanlon remains Black, portrayed by Chosen Jacobs as in the book, while Beverly Marsh is the sole female lead played by Sophia Lillis; the rest of the Losers Club (Bill by Jaeden Martell, Richie by Finn Wolfhard, Eddie by Jack Dylan Grazer, Ben by Jeremy Ray Taylor, Stan by Wyatt Oleff) aligns with the original characters without gender or race swaps of established figures. Director Andy Muschietti added minor details such as making Stan the son of a rabbi to underscore familial oppression, but these serve the story's existing themes of isolation and fear rather than injecting contemporary identity politics.

The central premise revolves around the children confronting Pennywise and personal traumas like bullying, parental abuse, and racism as depicted in the novel, without dialogue or subplots framing systemic oppression through a modern social justice lens. Reception showed no notable backlash labeling the film 'woke,' with audiences and critics focusing on its horror elements, performances, and fidelity to the coming-of-age horror narrative instead of ideological messaging. Overall, any progressive-adjacent elements remain incidental and organic to the 1980s source, not central or activist in intent.