Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis' “Beetlejuice” Characters 'Showed Up at the End' of Sequel's Alternate Version That Was Scrapped
Ghosts Adam and Barbara Maitland could've made an appearance in the 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'
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From Left: Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin in 'Beetlejuice'There was almost a glimmer of hope for fans who might've missed Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis' Beetlejuice characters in the long-awaited sequel.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice writer Alfred Gough told Entertainment Weekly how Adam (Baldwin, 66) and Barbara Maitland (Davis, 68) could have made an appearance in the 2024 film, but ultimately scrapped the idea for director Tim Burton's follow-up.
"There was a version [of the script] where they just showed up at the end, but the problem is they're ghosts. So they kind of needed to look like they were 35, which was never going to happen," Gough, 57, told the outlet.
"I think Tim [Burton] felt, and [writing partner Miles Millar] and I agreed, that their story had been told. So how do we move on from that?" the screenwriter continued.
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From Left: Alec Baldwin, Michael Keaton and Geena Davis in 'Beetlejuice'The Maitlands were part of the original 1988 horror comedy as a couple who died in a car accident when they drove off a bridge while trying to avoid killing a dog on the road.
The unusual Deetz family — Delia, Charles and daughter Lydia, portrayed by Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones and Winona Ryder, respectively — purchased their Connecticut home and when the ghosts weren't willing to share the space, they enlisted the rambunctious demon Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to inspire them to leave.
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Burton, 66, exclusively told PEOPLE in August why Baldwin and Davis wouldn't be part of the sequel, noting that the ghosts were able to find a "loophole" that let them leave the house they had been restricted to.
The director also wanted to explore a different story separate from 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 said at the time.
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Michael Keaton as BeetlejuiceRelated: Michael Keaton Teases Beetlejuice Sequel: A 'Shrunken Head Room' and 'Enormous Fun' (Exclusive)
This time around, Lydia's daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), is affected when Beetlejuice returns.
“A sequel like this, it really had to do with the time,” Burton also said about returning to the Deetz family over 35 years later. “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.”
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is now in theaters.
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