Tim Burton’s long-awaited “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” brings Winona Ryder back to the role of Lydia Deetz after 36 years. Ryder was only 15 years old when she filmed the original “Beetlejuice,” and she recently told Entertainment Weekly that she never predicted her character would become a mother in the sequel. “I would hope there’s that thing of wanting to keep the essence of the first one, but then imagine this whole life that’s happened,” Ryder said.
“I never thought about Lydia ever being a mom. I thought she would just be this spinster by choice in that attic, but I think that’s where the incredible Jenna Ortega comes in. She answered a ton of those questions, and it felt so right.
” While the plot of the “Beetlejuice” sequel remains largely under wraps, the film’s emotional through line is the strained relationship between Ryder’s Lydia and her daughter Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega. Original cast members Michal Keaton and Catherine O’Hara are also back for the sequel, with newcomers including Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci. “I just remember every year or two, we’d get together,” Ryder said about Burton’s sequel brainstorming.
“And, you know, he’d pace around and be like, ‘This isn’t like a sequel. It’s just like things happen in life, and I really want to know what’s going on with them now.'” In an interview with Vanity Fair earlier this year, Ortega described Astrid as “weird, but in a different.