Jenna Ortega (Wednesday, Scream VI) joined the cast of Tim Burton's upcoming Beetlejuice sequel (which is now officially titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) in a key role last year, and the actress has now confirmed which character she'll play.
There were rumors that Ortega had been cast as Lydia Deetz's (Winona Ryder) daughter, and the Miller's Girl star revealed that this was indeed the case during an interview with Vanity Fair.
“I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but I am Lydia Deetz’s daughter, so I’ll give that away. She’s weird, but in a different way and not in the way you’d assume, I would say. The relationship between Lydia (Ryder) and Astrid, my character, is very important. And it’s also really strange because it’s a lot of catching up and putting the pieces together of what’s gone on in Lydia’s life since, which is nice, I think, for anybody who loves the character and is excited to see her again.”
Some recent set photos gave us a glimpse of Ortega as Astrid (see below) riding a bicycle through town, and an earlier look saw the character in a wedding dress. There's speculation that this could be a nod or possibly even a recreation of the scene from the first movie which saw ol' Betelgeuse attempt to force Lydia to marry him.
Warner Bros. recently debuted the first official poster for the movie, but we're still waiting on a trailer.
Michael Keaton spoke about returning as the Ghost With the Most in a recent interview with Empire.
"Beetlejuice is the most f--kin’ fun you can have working. It’s so fun, it’s so great. And you know what it is? We’re doing it exactly like we did the first movie," he says. "There’s a woman in the great waiting room for the afterlife literally with a fishing line – I want people to know this because I love it – tugging on the tail of a cat to make it move."
"[Burton] and I were talking about it years and years ago, never telling anybody," he continued. "I said, ‘if it happens, first of all, we’ve both said we’re doing it many times. We both agreed, if it happens, it has to be done as close to the way we made it the first time. Making stuff up, making stuff happen, improvising and riffing, but literally handmade stuff like people creating things with their hands and building something. F--kin’ great. It’s the most fun I’ve had working on a movie in I can’t tell you how long."
Catherine O'Hara is also set to reprise her role as Lydia's mother, Delia Deetz. Other new cast members include Monica Bellucci as Betelgeuse's wife, Willem Dafoe as an afterlife cop, and Justin Theroux in an undisclosed role.
Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar penned the script.
Beetlejuice 2 is set to release in theaters on Sept. 6, 2024.