New ‘Beetlejuice 2’ Trailer Dropped And Now We Have Questions
The trailer for Beetlejuice 2, also called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, just came out. And while it answered a lot of fan questions in those 90 seconds, it raised even more that went unanswered.
Beetlejuice 2 Begins With Yet Another Death
The first thing we learn in the trailer is that Charles Deetz has died. That’s clear when the funeral shows everyone in the Deetz family except the patriarch. The video also shows a very subtle image of Charles, possibly on some sort of headstone, hiding behind the flowers on the casket. You’ll have to pause it at the 0:25 mark if you want to catch it.
The video doesn’t mention how Charles passed away, but that’s probably something the movie itself will reveal. Fans have speculated for a long time that Charles would not return for this sequel. Ever since Catherine O’Hara and Winona Ryder confirmed their returns. Actor Jeffery Jones, who played Charles Deetz, was absent from any such announcements. Including the one Broadway World released last May.
Regarding the absence of this main character, director Tim Burton seemed to have confirmed Jones wouldn’t be in Beetlejuice 2. When he said Charles’s death was the catalyst for the sequel’s plotline, screenrant.com reported. However, dead characters weren’t exactly invisible in the Maitland’s home in the original film. In fact, they were the main focus of the storyline.
For those who think Jones himself might return in the sequel in some big reveal, he won’t. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed two days ago that the actor won’t be back. Jones’s legal issues were not sited as the reason. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge for hiring a minor to pose for explicit photos, nbclosangeles.com reported.
But just because someone is dead in a Beetlejuice movie, doesn’t mean they’re gone, as we learned in the original film. If Charles Deetz does return in the ethereal form, however, it will have to be through another actor’s portrayal.
Beetlejuice 2 Cast: Who’s Back
Michael Keaton as Betelguese
What is probably one of the biggest questions that the trailer answered for us is that Michael Keaton will be back. As we reported in the past, the actor excitedly confirmed his return as the titular character when the movie was first announced.
Michael Keaton, who is returning as Betelguese, attends the Los Angeles special screening of “Knox Goes Away” at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on March 14, 2024 in Los Angeles, California (photo by Olivia Wong/Getty Images).
Yes, we can all exhale now. Betelguese will not be played in this movie by George Clooney, Christian Bale or, God forbid, Ben Affleck.
Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz
O’Hara also confirmed that she is reprising her role as Delia Deetz for the sequel.
Catherine O’Hara of “Schitt’s Creek” speaks during the Pop TV segment of the 2020 Winter TCA Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 13, 2020 in Pasadena, California. O’Hara will star in the Beetlejuice 2 sequel (photo by Amy Sussman/Staff/Getty Images).
And fans wouldn’t have had it any other way. Beetlejuice is a cult classic. It’s incredibly difficult to replace a main character in such a situation without really ticking off some super fans. And O’Hara is undoubtedly going to bring new fans to the sequel as well. After her major success as the matriarch in the Schitt’s Creek series.
Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz
Winona Ryder returning to Beetlejuice 2 is exciting for many reasons. The Stranger Things star confirmed she will be back as Lydia.
Winona Ryder attends Netflix’s “Stranger Things” season 4 premiere at Netflix Brooklyn on May 14, 2022 in Brooklyn, New York (photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images).
There’s so much curiosity surrounding what happened to young Lydia Deetz, who is now grown up and has a daughter of her own. Ryder reprising the role is going to answer the question of how the isolated young Lydia grew up in her new surroundings. With the added bonus of fans not having to get used to the character having a new face.
Beetlejuice 2 Cast: Who’s New
Monica Bellucci as Betelguese’s Wife
One major surprise, that Broadway World announced in May 2023, is that Monica Bellucci joins the cast as Betelguese’s wife.
Monica Bellucci,who is appearing in Beetlejuice 2, attends “Irreversible” photocall during the 76th Venice Film Festival on August 31, 2019 in Venice, Italy. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Bellucci is best known for her lead role in Malena (2000) and as Persephone in The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003), according to imdb.com. And the addition of this character raises so many new questions, which we’ll get to in a minute.
Jenna Ortega as Astrid
The casting of Jenna Ortega as Lydia Deetz’s daughter is brilliant on many levels. After her success in projects like Yes Day and Stuck In The Middle, Ortega is an actress young people have connected with over the last several years. And with her spot-on portrayal of the titular character in the Wednesday series, teens and adults alike have also found themselves fans of Ortega’s work.
Jenna Ortega, who will appear in “Beetlejuice 2”, attends Netflix’s “Wednesday” ATAS Official Event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on April 29, 2023 in Hollywood, California (photo by Jerod Harris/Stringer/Getty Images).
Ortega playing the next generation in Beetlejuice 2 also lends itself to bringing the original actors back after so long. The original Beetlejuice came out in 1988. Which means the returning actors are 36 years older than they were when the first filmed ended. The timeframe of the sequel allows for less CGI than Burton might have otherwise needed to make the characters seem as young as they were in the original story.
Keaton said that there won’t be a lot of CGI in the sequel. He told Hollywood Reporter that he and Burton knew from the beginning they didn’t want to heavily rely on technology. And that it was important for both of them that the movie felt “handmade”. The natural aging of the returning actors being written into the storyline allows Burton to fulfill that desire.
Justin Theroux as Rory
Another actor confirmed for the sequel is Justin Theroux.
Actor Justin Theroux attends The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences official Academy screening of “On the Basis of Sex” at MoMA on December 13, 2018 in New York City (photo by Lars Niki/Getty Images).
The part Theroux is playing has not been established. But we can speculate based on a few things. It’s not easily seen in the trailer, but this photo from imdb.com shows clearly that Theroux is standing in the line of the family members in the funeral scene. Which suggests that Theroux’s character is a family member. Possibly Lydia’s husband and Astrid’s father.
Though I’ve also heard a few people in the halls wonder if Theroux is an eccentric friend of the family. Which would explain his manner of dress in the aforementioned photo. This character could take the place the original movie’s Otho, screenrant.com points out. However, the fact that Theroux is standing next to Lydia and not Delia in such a vulnerable scene argues that Rory is closer to Lydia than her mother.
Willem Dafoe as Dead Policeman
Willem Dafoe attends the 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on February 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, California (photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images).
William Dafoe’s addition to the cast sounds like a serious hoot. The Poor Things actor told Entertainment Weekly that his character is a policeman in the afterlife. But it’s his backstory I’m most excited to see. In the EW interview, Dafoe said “in life I was a B-movie action star, but I had an accident and that’s what sent me to the other side”.
Beetlejuice 2: Why The Maitlands Might Not Be Returning
The sequel’s timeframe makes sense for the living characters to return 36 years later. But for the same reason, it doesn’t make sense for the Maitland’s to come back. Barbara (played by Geena Davis) and Adam (played by Alec Baldwin) were dead in the second movie. It would make sense that they would look the same in the sequel.
But Davis and Baldwin don’t look the way they did in 1988. Davis made this same “ghosts don’t age” justification for the Maitland’s absence from the sequel, people.com reported. However, this does not mean they won’t be in the movie. In fact, nobody has confirmed that they aren’t returning.
And, per People Magazine, Davis has said before that she would love to be a part of the second installment. Considering Davis’s excitement about returning, coupled with the lack of confirmation the Maitland’s are not in the sequel, I wouldn’t write them off. A lot can be explained in the afterlife when it comes to appearance.
And even though Keaton said CGI wasn’t going to be heavily used, it doesn’t mean other means of stagecraft can’t be. Burton got away with a lot of aesthetic alterations in the first movie without the use of the technology we have available today.
If Geena Davis is in the sequel, it could always be in a different, more minor role. Burton did that with Christina Ricci in the Wednesday series, so we know it’s in his bag of tricks.
So Many Questions Unanswered
While the trailer did confirm some things that people have wondered about for a while, there are so many unanswered questions that remain. For example, what is the relationship of Rory to the family? If he isn’t Astrid’s father, who is?
Will we see the Maitlands in the afterlife? Will Charles Deetz be there? How did Betelguese meet his wife and is she as weird as her husband is? Is she dead too or did he actually find someone living to help him with his alien status?
We will have to wait for the movie to find it all out. But I know one thing: there is sure to be a new collection of costume ideas just in time for this year’s Halloween. Beetlejuice 2 will arrive in theaters on September 6, 2024.
