Yesterday, the official Beetlejuice Instagram account teased that something would be arriving today, leading some fans to believe we might be getting a trailer for upcoming sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Although that didn't arrive, we did get a couple of first-look images othat tease the returns of Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara, and well as new cast members Jenna Ortega and Justin Theroux.
The new images come courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, which you can see below. The first one obviously shows Keaton back in action as the iconic ghost - and honestly, the biggest thing of note is that not much has changed at all. He's basically rocking the same costume and disheveled hair and makeup that we all know and love.
The second image (scroll to view) may be even more notable, giving us our first look at Ortega's new character Astrid Deetz, the daughter of Ryder's Lydia Deetz from the original. Astrid, Lydia, and O'Hara's Delia Deetz seem to be at a funeral, alongside Theroux's character Rory, who we know little about thus far.
Returning director Tim Burton also revealed a few details in an interview with EW, speaking briefly about the long road to get a sequel off the ground. He said Keaton had no "burning desire" to do a follow-up "unless it felt right."
"I think we all felt the same way," he said. "It only made sense if it had an emotional hook."
Among the concepts that were floated, Burton said, were "Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion, Beetlejuice Goes West, whatever," in addition to a sequel set in Hawaii. But it was the focus on the Deetz women that brought the sequel together.
He added that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice "reenergized" his love for filmmaking, confirming that he'll be using stop-motion animation to recreate the feel of the original. Similarly, Keaton said in a recent interview that the sequel won't rely heavily on CGI, adding that it "had to feel handmade."
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will hit theaters on September 6, 2024.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
