WhenHocus Pocus 2was announced, the only returning cast members appeared to be the three leads; Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy. However, it was revealed that fan-favoriteDoug Joneswas also coming back to reprise his role as the zombie Billy Butcherson. While there have been plenty of images of the Sanderson sisters doing the rounds, Jones has given fans their first good look at the return of Billy by sharing a picture onhis Twitter accountto celebrate the film being officially wrapped.After an almost thirty-year absence,the Sanderson sisters will be back for more Halloween fun this Octoberas the Black Flame is once again lit and the witches attempt to take revenge on Salem just as they did in the original movie back in 1993. While much of the cast is brand new to the franchise, one character that fans will be pleased to see back in the sequel is the exceptional creature actor Doug Jones, who brings Billy Butcherson back to life once more as the former lover of Winifred Sanderson. After completing filming, Jones celebrated with a selfie in full Billy make-up, as can be seen below.It seems that perhaps Jones was a bit trigger-happy with his post, which was later deleted from his account, most likely because his character’s return has not been widely discussed and no official images of him have been released. However, Jones was still happy to answer questions on the back of the post, including one in which he was asked how many hours it took in makeup to get into character. Jones explained that the application of the prosthetics only took a couple of hours to apply, but took weeks to make.
Hocus Pocus 2 Appears to Follow The Same Story As The 1993 Original
As seems to be the way with many legacy sequels,Hocus Pocus 2appears to be taking most of its cues from the original movie. Whether it is the inclusion of a song and dance number, the inclusion of a modern household cleaner taking the place of a broomstick for one of the Sandersons, and the return of Doug Jone’s Billy Butcherson, the storyline ofHocus Pocus 2will see a group of youngsters attempting to thwart the dastardly plans of Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson before the end of Halloween.
This is something that has been done with many reboots and revivals in the last decade, fromStar Wars: The Force Awakens, which played heavily to the run of the originalStar Wars, toGhostbusters: Afterlifethat retained many plot points from 1984’s first outing of Bill Murray and co. However, like a song that uses common chords and melodies, using the same structure or devices that worked to pull in audiences and make a movie a success the first time around is always going to be the easiest option to give a sequel a fighting chance. Some will call it lazy, but if a TV crime drama can repeat the same formula over twenty-plus episodes and several seasons, then why can’t a movie do the same thing?
Hocus Pocus 2will arrive on Disney+ in October just in time for Halloween.
