Tim Burton Explains Why Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis Aren't in theBeetlejuiceSequel (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Tim Burton (left) and Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin in ‘Beetlejuice.'.Photo:TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy

TCD/Prod.DB/Alamy

In the original movie, Baldwin, now 66, and Davis, now 68, played Adam and Barbara Maitland, Connecticut residents who become ghosts when they accidentally drive off a bridge while swerving to avoid hitting a dog.

Unwilling to share the house with the Deetzes, the Maitlands turn to the lewd and crude demon Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to help scare away the new residents.

While many of the original cast members return forBeetlejuice Beetlejuice —including Keaton, Ryder and O’Hara — Baldwin and Davis are not among them.

The cast of the original ‘Beetlejuice.'.Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

The sequel explains how the Maitlands found a “loophole” allowing them to leave the house from which they were confined.

Burton, for his part, wanted to dive into a whole new story that didn’t involve the Maitlands. “I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes. So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else,” he tells PEOPLE.

He continues that it was necessary for many years to have passed in order to make the movie he wanted, which finds Delia and Lydia, now living elsewhere, returning to the Connecticut home for the funeral of patriarch Charles.

Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.'.Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.

Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.

“A sequel like this, it really had to do with the time,” says Burton. “That was my hook into it, the three generations of mother, daughter, granddaughter. And that [would] be the nucleus of it. I couldn’t have made this personally back in 1989 or whatever.”

Jenna Ortega and Winona Ryder in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.'.Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.

Keaton previously told PEOPLE he and Burton had conversations through the years about revisitingBeetlejuice, but they needed to nail it.

“We thought, ‘You got to get this right. I was hesitant and cautious, and he was probably equally as hesitant and cautious,” says Keaton. “Once we got there, I said, ‘Okay, let’s just go for it.’ ”

In April, Davisconfirmed toEntertainment Tonightthat she wouldn’t be returning — and offered her own theory why. “I’m not in the remake,” she said. “Oh, you were expecting that I would be? Yeah, no, you know what? Because my theory is that ghosts don’t age … Not that I have!”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceis in theaters Sept. 6.

source: people.com