I would like to propose a new award. The Who Asked for This? trophy gets awarded to the sequel or reboot that seems the most obvious and yet the most bothersome, the greatest act of cashing-in that is also somehow, insidiously, almost appealing, except that it’s been 35 years and we all just want something new to happen.
Why do I bring this up? Well, the Tim Burton-directed Beetlejuice 2 is official, with Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder returning to their roles, and Jenna Ortega playing Ryder’s character’s daughter.
There are some odd quirks to this story, my favorite of which is this: As Deadline reports, “Mike Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, with earlier drafts from Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg. Katzenberg and Grahame-Smith are producing.”
Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are the creators of Wednesday, the show that flung Ortega into the spotlight—and also the show about which she has had some less-than-glowing opinions regarding the writing. (Gough and Millar are both credited, on IMDb, with writing four episodes.)
The whole Beetlejuice sequel is a reunion for some of the original movie’s cast and for the Wednesday gang, since Burton directed several episodes of the show and is also an executive producer. But as popular as Wednesday is, that’s a worrying fact: Ortega is great, but the show is troubled and doesn’t really understand a huge part of the appeal of the Addams Family. What will this team do to Beetlejuice?
Justin Theroux is also in the movie, which reportedly begins filming today, and will be in theaters September 6, 2024.
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