Willem Dafoe Is Next To Join 'Beetlejuice 2'

The 'Inside' and 'Poor Things' actor joins Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, and returnees Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder in the long-awaited sequel

Don’t say you weren’t warned. As the much anticipated Beetlejuice 2 continues early production which began earlier this week, more casting news comes down the pipeline. This time, it’s Willem Dafoe.

Tim Burton returns to direct the sequel to his original 1988 film, with Michael Keaton of course back in the title role. Jenna Ortega is in the film’s lead role however, as the daughter of Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz, mitigating worry that the ghost with the most was moving into main character territory. He was a supporting character with little but well-used screen time in the first film. As previously reported Catherine O’Hara returns as Lydia’s mother Delia Deetz. Justin Theroux’s casting as an unknown character was reported Tuesday, just before production began. Monica Bellucci was cast as Beetlejuice’s wife, as reported on Thursday. Plot details remain unreleased to the public, but Dafoe is playing a law enforcement officer in the afterlife.

Dafoe was most recently seen in the psychological thriller Inside, which was released in March, and in last year’s The Northman from Robert Eggers. First known for Platoon, he is widely known as Norman Osborn, aka Green Goblin, in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He also played in the DCEU as Nuidis Vulko in Aquaman and the Justice League Snyder Cut. The trailer for one of his upcoming movies Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things with Emma Stone, was released Friday. Further upcoming films include Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City and Eggers’s next film, a remake of the vampire thriller Nosferatu. Beetlejuice 2 is currently scheduled for a September 6, 2024 release by Warner Bros.