The hype surrounding the 2024 movie schedule may be rising soon, given that a certain highly anticipate title is about to rear it's humorously creepy head -- Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The long awaited legacy-quel to the 1988 classic, this upcoming horror movie also marks the return of actor Winona Ryder as the iconic Lydia Deetz. And, while speaking with her about this welcomed revisitation, Ryder not only expressed excitement for this project, but revealed to CinemaBlend another legacy-quel she was trying to get off the ground for years. Sadly, in her own words, "that ship has sailed," and it makes me sad.
While sitting down with the veteran performer behind films like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Edward Scissorhands, I asked her if there are any other roles from her illustrious career that she'd love to reprise. When faced with that question, Winona Ryder shared this answer with CinemaBlend:
I don't know, because … for years, I was trying to get everybody to get on board with it for Heathers. But I think that ship has sailed. That was another that I thought could be a fun return. This is an absolute first for me, to revisit something. There's something so special about it … and now, I know, it's like you're spoiled. Like you don't ever want to do this unless it's absolutely perfect.
A follow-up that would've allowed the world to compare the Heathers cast then and now could have been spectacular. Following Winona Ryder’s Veronica Sawyer decades after her teen-angst bullshit and the ensuing body count is something that moviegoers probably would have loved to see, too. Especially if the potential story saw her raising a potential Heather of her own; similar to what Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees Lydia Deetz doing with her grounded, not strange and unusual daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega).
The Stranger Things star's excitement for that concept is only part of what makes me sad it never happened. On top of that disappointment, there’s also the fact that two of the three actors that gave Heathers its name are sadly no longer with us. With Kim Walker’s passing in 2001, as well as Shannon Doherty’s untimely death earlier in 2024, Heather Duke and Heather Chandler would be respectively absent from the proceedings.
At the same time, Winona Ryder’s overall point shared above hits even harder in this context. Someone could read these remarks and think that now is the time to make a Heathers legacy-quel, or even a reboot with Ms. Ryder being invited to play a legacy cameo. That’s certainly the approach that was taken with the ill-received, and ultimately canceled Heathers TV show, which had Shannon Doherty playing the role of JD’s mother back in 2018.
With all the time that’s passed, and the property already having a second life through a cult hit musical, I hate to say it, but Winona Ryder is right. The ship has sailed on Heathers 2: The Wrath of Prom, but It’s still a nice what-if scenario to consider, bittersweet remembrances and all. Then again, no one ever thought a Beetlejuice sequel would happen. And, if a good enough idea happens to surface, that wish could come true in a new and exciting way; so long as the heart and humor of that project were to come from the right place.
On the bright side, fans can revisit the original Heathers, as it’s currently streaming for free with ads on Tubi. And, if you’re preparing for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, you don’t need to say the magic word a third time! Just use your Max subscription to stream the original film ahead of the long-awaited sequel, which debuts only in theaters on September 6th.
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