BOWING OUT

Original ‘Beetlejuice’ Star Won’t Return for Sequel Despite Easter Egg Hint

The actor who played Winona Ryder’s dad in the 1988 hit won’t be back for the sequel.

Jeffrey Jones, who played Winona Ryder’s dad in the 1988 movie, will not be back for the Beetlejuice sequel, The Hollywood Reporter says. Jones played Charles Deetz in the original alongside Catherine O’Hara (as his wife Delia Deetz) and Ryder (as his daughter, Lydia Deetz). The trailer for the sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice featured a headstone of his character in a funeral scene. Jones appeared in a string of hit movies including Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Amadeus, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow. However, in 2003 he pleaded no contest to hiring a 14-year-old boy to pose naked for photos, for which he was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to register as a sex offender. He has not appeared in a film since Deadwood: The Movie in 2019. The Beetlejuice sequel will include a raft of new characters played by stars including Justin Theroux, Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci.