Tim Burton says Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin aren’t in ‘Beetlejuice’ sequel because he was ‘focused on something else’

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Director Tim Burton is shedding light on why Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are not appearing in the upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel.

Davis and Baldwin starred in the 1988 classic as recently deceased couple Adam and Barbara Maitland, who find themselves at odds with the Deetz family – Lydia (Winona Ryder), Delia (Catherine O’Hara) and Charles (Jeffrey Jones) – after they move into the Connecticut home in which the Maitlands used to live.

The couple soon enlist Michael Keaton’s trickster demon Beetlejuice to help scare the Deetzes away, creating all manner of otherworldly mayhem.

But Burton wanted to tell a different story in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” telling People in an interview published on Thursday that “even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else.”

“I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes,” Burton said. He later added, “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.”

Referring to O’Hara, Ryder and newcomer Jenna Ortega’s characters, respectively, Burton said the three generations of women would “be the nucleus” of the sequel.

According to People, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” will address why the Maitlands aren’t still confined to the home after the passage of time.

Keaton will return as Beetlejuice in the sequel, in addition to O’Hara and Ryder. Ortega joins the cast as Ryder’s daughter Astrid, alongside new cast members Monica Bellucci, Justin Theroux, “House of the Dragon” star Arthur Conti and Willem Dafoe.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” will premiere in theaters on September 6.

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