Tim Burton has explained why actors Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis are not in Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel to the 1988 original.
Fans of the original film have been eager to see the return of the beloved characters played by Baldwin and Davis. However, Burton clarified that the story’s direction and character arcs did not align with their involvement. Via ( People.)
Burton explained that the sequel focuses on new characters and a fresh storyline, which led to the decision to move forward without the original stars.
“I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes,” the director said. “So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else.”
He continued, “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.”
Geena earlier weighed in on the matter with her own theory.
“No, I’m not. I’m not in the remake,” she told ET. “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.