The sequel also stars Michael Keaton and Jenna Ortega.
Here are the deets about Lydia Deetz! Winona Ryder offered fans a first look as her Beetlejuice character in the highly anticipated sequel.
Ryder, 51, is reprising the character some 35 years after she appeared in the original film when it debuted in 1988. And, once again, she donned her trademark goth look with fringed black hair, black shirt and a pointy collar featuring white stitching. In the photo, she's riding shotgun in a Tesla in the small town of Hitchin, some 40 minutes north of London. The male driver's purported to be her co-star, Michael Keaton.
In the original Tim Burton-directed film, Adam and Barbara Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) think they've survived a car wreck, only to come home and realize they can no longer see their reflections. They're suddenly ghosts who rely on a handbook welcoming them to the afterlife. When a new family from New York moves into their Connecticut home, the Maitlands haunt them, but only Lydia can see the ghosts and she befriends the couple, leaving her dad, Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones) and stepmother, Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara) perplexed.
The Deetzes resort to hiring a so-called bio-exorcist who goes by the name Beetlejuice.
For years, there had been lots of talk about a sequel happening. Then, in August 2015, Ryder appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers and confirmed the sequel was a go, though she later felt bad about confirming the news.
"I think I can confirm it,” Ryder explained at the time. "It was very hush hush, top secret...then [Burton] was doing some press for Big Eyes and he did an on-camera interview and he said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re doing it, and Winona’s going to be in it.’"
But the project, however far along it was at the time, ultimately crawled at a snail's pace, and it wasn't until recently when the wheels finally were set in motion, with Deadline reporting in February 2022 that Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B, would produce the sequel.
According to multiple reports, Jenna Ortega is also set to star in the film, portraying Ryder's daughter. Justin Theroux is also reportedly set to star. Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter broke some more casting news, when it reported Willem Dafoe would join the sequel and play a law enforcement officer in the afterlife.
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