Why Aren’t Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin in Beetlejuice 2

Beetlejuice is coming back in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, after decades of Tim Burton trying to get a sequel off the ground. With it comes a large chunk of the first film’s cast. However, two actors won’t be returning. Here’s why Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin aren’t in Beetlejuice 2.

Are Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin in Beetlejuice 2?

For many sequels and remakes of classic films from long ago, there’s often some nefarious reason a star isn’t returning to reprise their character. Sometimes it’s the actor not thinking another film is a good idea or not wanting to tarnish what they’ve done. Sometimes they’ve had a disagreement over pay. Sometimes it’s an interpersonal conflict with a co-star or the film’s director. However, none of this is why Geena Davis is not in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Davis, who is now 68 and was in her 30s in the original film, and Baldwin, who is now 66, just don’t seem to have been written into the story. In the original movie, the pair play a recently deceased couple who want the owners of their new home gone and engage Beetlejuice to help them with this issue. In the end, they manage to agree to live together with the new family, which includes O’Hare and Ryder’s characters. That would seem to set up a perfect return for both her and Baldwin in the movie, as the film brings Lydia (Ryder) back to her home and involves Delia Deetz (O’Hare). But that isn’t the case.

The new film instead focuses on the next generation of Deetz, as Lydia is forced to work with Beetlejuice after her daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), says Beetlejuice’s name three times. Despite the trailers clearly showing that the film will take place in the same house as the original, Davis and Baldwin are nowhere to be seen, and, according to Tim Burton, that was the whole point.

“I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes,” Burton said. “So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else.”

Why Aren’t Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin Returning for Beetlejuice 2?

Davis herself has a theory as to why this is, claiming that the screenplay wrote her out of the film because ghosts don’t age and, obviously, the actress has.

“No, I’m not. I’m not in the remake,” Davis said of the film when asked if she was in it. “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.”

That, of course, is a pretty weak reason for the film not to include her and Baldwin, given the fact that de-aging technology exists that can make Harrison Ford look young again. Even if the filmmakers didn’t want to spend the money on using that tech it feels like if they wanted her in the film, they could have just written some excuse as to why they looked different. Ghosts in the franchise might not age, but they sure can change their appearance. Maybe the Maitland’s just wanted to look older? Of course, Davis isn’t the only one who’s been kept off the cast list.

Burton, however, gives a bit more context for their removal from the film’s story, saying, “A sequel like this, it really had to do with the time,” Burton continued. “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.”

It’s possible that both Davis and Baldwin are keeping tight-lipped about being in the film and the trailer just isn’t showing us them, but that’s pretty unlikely. Secrets like this usually get out, and Hollywood executives would be chomping at the bit to announce their return to get more butts in theater seats. No, it looks like, in this case, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are telling the truth and neither will be in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be released on September 6.