Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Is Missing These Vital Characters, Tim Burton Explains Why

Warning: This article contains mild SPOILERS for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara, and Michael Keaton return to Tim Burton‘s world one more time…but two of the most important characters from the original movie are missing in Burton’s long-awaited sequel. As Beetlejuice Beetlejuice returns the Deetz family to Winter River, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) are noticeably absent from the new movie. The original film centered on the Maitlands desperately enlisting Betelgeuse’s (Keaton) help to prevent their family home from being sold after their deaths. So why are they nowhere to be found in the sequel?

Speaking to People Magazine, Burton revealed that he never intended for the Maitlands to return in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. During development on the movie, Burton reasoned that including them for the sake of fan service felt like checking boxes on a list of sequel necessities. But the sequel doesn’t just wipe them from narrative existence. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice explains how the Maitlands found a “loophole” to leave the home that they once haunted. Burton said:

“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.”

While some fans are frustrated that it took this long for Burton to develop a sequel to one of his most beloved 80s movies, for the director, the long wait wasn’t just necessary for his own motivation – it also influenced the story of the new sequel. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice centers on the Deetz family reunion in Winter River after the death of the family patriarch. Joining Winona Rider (Lydia Deetz) and Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz), who reprise their roles from the original, is Jenna Ortega, who plays Astrid Deetz, Lydia’s daughter. Tim Burton explained:

“A sequel like this, it really had to do with the time. 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.”

Michael Keaton Was ‘Hesitant & Cautious’ About His Beetlejuice Return

With the sheer number of reboots and sequels that are being greenlit by Hollywood studios these days, it may appear that any sense of integrity or care about the legacy of the original movies has been thrown out the window. But for Tim Burton and Michael Keaton, the pair knew they had to get the story right before committing to a sequel which could tarnish the beloved original.

Michael Keaton, during a previous conversation with People Magazine, revealed that he had various conversations with director Tim Burton over the years about reuniting for a second Beetlejuice. However, any attempts to jump start a sequel were squashed when the pair couldn’t settle on a narrative deserving of such a monumental resurrection. Keaton explained:

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

Thankfully, it seems they did eventually find a storyline worthy of the maniacal “bio-exorcist,” with early reviews for the sequel heaping praise on both Keaton and Burton’s return.