Beetlejuice 2 has signed a returning star, marking much-needed progress in a long and troubled development, as Catherine O'Hara boards the sequel.
Ever since gothic director Tim Burton captured audiences' hearts with Beetlejuice, Warner Bros. has been clamoring to get a sequel off the ground. Beetlejuice 2 has gone through many iterations since the '90s under various creatives, but things have finally been heating up again lately.
The Ankler reported in February 2022 that Brad Pitt's production company Plan B has come on board to produce the sequel that will bring back Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder. Although the report originally suggested cameras could be rolling under Burton once again as soon as this Summer, that never came to be.
As the filmmaker prepares to premiere The Addams Family spin-off Wednesday on Netflix, he recently offered some comments on Beetlejuice 2. Speaking about his potential involvement in the sequel at the Lumière Festival in October, Burton teased "nothing is out of the question," adding he is "working on ideas:"
“I only know if I’m making a film when I’m actually on the set shooting. I try to go back to the root of everything. It springs from a seed and then it grows, rather than out of these statements. I am working on ideas and things but it’s all very early days. We’ll set how it goes. How’s that for a none answer?”
Beetlejuice 2 Recruits Catherine O'Hara
The Direct can exclusively reveal that Catherine O'Hara - who played Delia in 1988's Beetlejuice - has signed on to reprise her role in Beetlejuice 2. The Home Alone and Schitt's Creek star joins her previously reported returning co-stars of Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder in the long-awaited sequel.
In the '80s classic, O'Hara played Delia Deetz, the matriarch of the central family who have their home haunted by Keaton's Beetlejuice throughout the flick.
Speaking at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2016 - via That Shelf - O'Hara addressed her potential return in the long-rumored sequel, indicating both she and her production designer husband Bo Welch would "both love to be involved:"
"I wish I could do it but I haven't heard anything. I met my husband on that movie, he designed the sets, so we would both love to be involved. But, like you, I keep hearing about it every once in a while but it doesn't seem to go anywhere. I don't know, I'd love to see it, I'd love to be in it."
When Will Beetlejuice 2 Come Out?
So, unless Warner Bros. and Plan B have begun making preparations for Beetlejuice 2 without Tim Burton, the director may just be playing coy on the project in indicating he may not be specifically signed on yet.
What's particularly interesting is that The Ankler reported in February that the Beetlejuice follow-up could begin production as soon as the Summer. And while that didn't pull through, it does seem to indicate significant progress on the script and could be further along than it appears.
The signing of stars indeed represents progress in development that has never been seen in the 30+ years that Warner Bros. has been trying to get the sequel off the ground. Perhaps this may finally be the time Beetlejuice 2 comes to fruition and fans may be sitting down to watch as soon as 2024.
Provided development doesn't reach another halt as it has done several times in the past, the cameras could be rolling in a matter of months. Burton and all the reported stars appear to have open schedules, although Ryder will become preoccupied with Stranger Things 5 at some point in 2023.
Hearing Catherine O'Hara, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder will all be returning for the sequel will undoubtedly prove exciting for fans of the original. This appears to indicate that Burton and the studio are gunning for a direct sequel to the original with the same cast and perhaps house, although almost 40 years later.
Beetlejuice 2 has yet to be formally announced and, as such, has no release date.
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