‘Beetlejuice 2’: See Winona Ryder on Set as Lydia Deetz

Here are the deets about Lydia Deetz! In the eagerly anticipated sequel, Winona Ryder gave fans a first look at her Beetlejuice character.

Ryder, 51, is repeating the person approximately 35 years after she showed up in the first film when it appeared in 1988. She also donned her signature gothic look once more, complete with black shirt, fringed black hair, and a pointy collar with white stitching. She is shown in the image riding shotgun in a Tesla in Hitchin, a small town 40 minutes north of London. It is said that Michael Keaton, her co-star, is the male driver.

In the original Tim Burton-directed film, Adam and Barbara Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) think they’ve survived a car wreck, only to come home and realize they can no longer see their reflections. They’re suddenly ghosts who rely on a handbook welcoming them to the afterlife. When a new family from New York moves into their Connecticut home, the Maitlands haunt them, but only Lydia can see the ghosts and she befriends the couple, leaving her dad, Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones) and stepmother, Delia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara) perplexed.

The Deetzes resort to hiring a so-called bio-exorcist who goes by the name Beetlejuice. For years, there had been lots of talk about a sequel happening. Then, in August 2015, Ryder appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers and confirmed the sequel was a go, though she later felt bad about confirming the news.

“I think I can confirm it,” Ryder explained at the time. “It was very hush hush, top secret…then [Burton] was doing some press for Big Eyes and he did an on-camera interview and he said, ‘Oh yeah, we’re doing it, and Winona’s going to be in it.’”

But the project, however far along it was at the time, ultimately crawled at a snail’s pace, and it wasn’t until recently when the wheels finally were set in motion, with Deadline reporting in February 2022 that Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, would produce the sequel.

According to multiple reports, Jenna Ortega is also set to star in the film, portraying Ryder’s daughter. Justin Theroux is also reportedly set to star. Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter broke some more casting news, when it reported Willem Dafoe would join the sequel and play a law enforcement officer in the afterlife.