The 'Beetlejuice' Sequel Is Progressing, And Bringing Jenna Ortega Along

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Dance dance dance with my hands hands hands!

It’s showtime! Ahead of both the release of her latest film Scream VI and her hosting Saturday Night Live, it’s being reported that Jenna Ortega is in talks to join Beetlejuice 2.

For this probably third iteration of a sequel to the 1988 hit starring Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, it will be something of a reunion for Ortega, as the original film’s director, Tim Burton, is an executive producer on her smash hit Netflix series, Wednesday, the latest Addams Family series and will be returning to direct this sequel. Keaton and Ryder are expected to reprise their roles as Beetlejuice and Lydia, while Ortega, should the deal go through, would play Lydia’s daughter.

As for a Beetlejuice sequel, it has been in development since the earliest years of the franchise, with the infamous Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, which, after getting pushed off for Burton’s Keaton-starring Batman Returns was finally put down in 1997. The second round began in 2011 with the hiring of Seth Grahame-Smith, who met with Keaton in 2012, and had finished the script by January 2015. Ryder even confirmed her return for that iteration on Late Night with Seth Meyers that August. However, the project would be shelved once again in 2019. The sequel was announced again in February 2022, with Burton initially stating he wasn’t involved but that became evidently untrue. Production is seeking to begin filming in London in late May or early June, but budget has not been set.

Ortega has also appeared in X, after her career began with appearances on Jane the Virgin as young Jane and starring on Disney Channel’s Stuck in the Middle for three seasons

Source: The Hollywood Reporter