Hocus Pocus 2 director speculates on future of everyone’s favourite witchy sisters
The witches are back.
The director of Hocus Pocus 2 – who had “never done a sequel” before – has hinted that everyone’s favourite witchy sisters may be back for round three.
In an interview with SFX magazine, Anne Fletcher said that she has “definitely” kept the narrative open for a sequel.
“I have definitely kept it wide open for any sequel,” she said.
“Now it’s really up to them if they want to do it. I can’t say anything other than yes, it is left open. Will they do it? I don’t know, they haven’t even talked about it, that I can be honest with you.”
“There’s always potential,” producer Lynn Harris added. “It’s a movie about magic and witches. Those things are timeless aren’t they? A multiverse of witches!”
Almost 30 years after the release of the first Hocus Pocus, Disney recently released the trailer for the sequel, teasing that “some legends never die”.
This Halloween season, some legends never die. 🕯
Hocus Pocus 2, an Original movie event, streaming September 30 on @DisneyPlus. #HocusPocus2 pic.twitter.com/Q1f521gb5O
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) June 28, 2022
Harris, however, said it’s just as if the Sanderson sisters – Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy – had “not been out of costume for 27 years”.
“They went right back into character,” she told SFX. “When I say character, not just their own individual character, but the way in which they relate to one another, which is very specific, in terms of the familial squabbles in birth order.
“Winnie very much being in charge, alternately annoyed by her sisters, loving her sisters, frustrated with her sisters. And that dynamic between the three of them was always hilarious and apparent immediately.”
One of the things that attracted Fletcher to Hocus Pocus 2 was a chance to show die-hard fans what the villainous trio’s origins looks like.
“The opening of our movie is a prologue to our young witches – and that is the reason I took the movie because I’m very, very much about backstories and truth and grounding,” she explained.
“Those are the things that I love the most – within the grounding you can be silly and stupid, and over the top and crazy.
“But now the fans get a little peek into the earlier years of our witches. Which to me is a blast. So I took the movie for that particular reason.
“The second reason is the first scare in the movie is so much fun…”
The Sanderson Sisters will return for Halloween 2022. (Disney)
Fletcher and Harris agree that one of overall themes of the film is sisterhood; both between the treacherous trio and between Becca, Cassie and Izzie (Whitney Peak, Belissa Ecobedo and Lilia Buckingham), the film’s modern day friends who cause a lot of trouble for the town of Salem …
Fletcher has said it’s about: “Having each other’s back and staying together – the power of three, the power of friendship, power of sisterhood.”
Speaking to SFX, she continued, saying that there’s a very real message in the fantasy-horror-comedy.
“In the very first scene where we meet the witches … I wanted to really push that in 40 years from the time of our opening, the witch trials were happening.
“I’m looking at that going, the opening of the movie is a direct link to 2022 what women, girls are going through at this moment. Now, that part of the story is what’s baked into the pie. Let’s bury some truth in here, because it’s real.
“Women were killed because they had a voice. And we’re going there, right as you and I are speaking. There’s no question about it. So for this movie, I really wanted to bury some of the irony of 1600s to 2022 that yeah, we’re still going through this crap.”
Hocus Pocus 2 reportedly includes a lesbian love story and is set to be released on Disney+ on Halloween.
