It’s been over 30 years since we first met the ghost with the most, Beetlejuice, in his hilarious 1988 film. Now the long-awaited sequel is almost here! Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters September 6th and I cannot wait to see what mess the wonky ghost has gotten himself into this time.
Winona Ryder, who played the quirky teen Lydia back in the day, has been secretly meeting with director Tim Burton for years to talk about doing a sequel. She must have really wanted to revisit her iconic role if she was meeting with him behind her agent’s back! Burton wasn’t sure about doing another one at first either, but he tossed around some crazy ideas like sending Beetlejuice to outer space.
Michael Keaton is back as the striped-suited ghoul and says he and Burton were cautious about ruining the first film. “We thought, let’s just leave it alone if we can’t do it right.” Somehow they must have cracked the scary-funny code again because Keaton said filming was a blast.
In this one, Lydia has a daughter named Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega. She’s fresh off her creepy role in Tim Burton’s Netflix show Wednesday, so spooky stuff must run in the family. Ortega says being plunked into a huge franchise was lonely at times but Winona helped her feel better. Looks like Lydia is passing down more than just her love of all things strange!
The plot involves the Deetz family returning home and Astrid accidentally opening a portal to the underworld, letting Beetlejuice loose once more. Ortega teases her character is “weird, but different” so get ready for an odd pairing with her mom Lydia. With the original stars and newcomers like Justin Theroux and Willem Dafoe added in, it’s bound to be totally batty.
After over three decades, it seems like the time for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has finally come. I can’t wait to see if it was worth the wait when it materializes in theaters this fall!