WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
Beetlejuice director Tim Burton has heard fans’ questions. Now, he’s speaking out to explain to moviegoers why leads Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis won’t be appearing in the 1988 movie’s upcoming sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Original Beetlejuice
Baldwin, now 66, and Davis, now 68, starred in the original movie as Adam and Barbara Maitland. The characters were Connecticut residents who become ghosts after they accidentally drive off a bridge while swerving to avoid hitting a dog.
The ghosts of the Maitlands end up being confined to the picturesque home that they had lived in. This home is then bought by the eccentric Deetz family, which consists of Charles (Jeffrey Jones) his daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) and Charles’s wife Delia (Catherine O’Hara).
Not wanting to share the house with the Deetz family, the Maitlands turn to the lewd and crude demon Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to help scare them away. Chaos only ensues from there!
Baldwin And Davis Won’t Return
While stars Keaton, Ryder, and O’Hara all return for the sequel, Baldwin and Davis do not. In the sequel, it’s stated that the Maitlands found a “loophole” that allowed them to leave the house from which they had been confined.
It turns out that this was a purposeful decision on Burton’s part. He wanted to tell an entirely new story that didn’t involve the Maitlands.
“I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes,” he explained to People Magazine. “So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else.”
In the sequel, Delia and Lydia return to the Connecticut home for the funeral of Charles. Lydia is now an adult who has her own daughter Astrid, who is played by the Wednesday star Jenna Ortega.
“A sequel like this, it really had to do with the time,” added Burton. “That was my hook into it, the three generations of mother, daughter, granddaughter. And that [would] be the nucleus of it. I couldn’t have made this personally back in 1989 or whatever.”
Keaton And Davis Speak Out
Keaton previously spoke out to reveal that there had been talks about a Beetlejuice sequel for years.
“We thought, ‘You got to get this right. I was hesitant and cautious, and he was probably equally as hesitant and cautious,” Keaton said. “Once we got there, I said, ‘Okay, let’s just go for it.’”
Davis herself confirmed earlier this year that she would not be returning for the Beetlejuice sequel.
“I’m not in the remake,” she told Entertainment Tonight in April. “Oh, you were expecting that I would be? Yeah, no, you know what? Because my theory is that ghosts don’t age … Not that I have!”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Premieres
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this week, and it was a hit.
“I’m not out to do a big sequel for money,” Burton told the Associated Press hours before the premiere. “I wanted to make this for very personal reasons.”
“I just realized if I’m going to do anything again, I just wanted to do it from my heart. Something that I wanted to do,” be continued. “It’s a bit like the Lydia character. Sometimes your life takes a little bit of a turn, you go down a different path. I sort of lost myself a little bit.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is set to hit theaters next week. Be sure to check it out if you’re a fan of the original movie!
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