Sequel?

Winona Ryder on ‘Beetlejuice 2’: ‘Might Be Happening’ With Burton, Keaton, and Ryder

The actress says she, Tim Burton, and Michael Keaton are probably returning for ‘Beetlejuice 2.’

Earlier this month, Michael Keaton confirmed that Beetlejuice 2 is a go. Tim Burton is in talks to direct.

Now Winona Ryder has told The Daily Beast that she may be on board, too.

"I'm kind of sworn to secrecy," Ryder said Monday afternoon in Los Angeles. "But it sounds like it might be happening."

Ryder acknowledged that there's been some backlash among Beetlejuice fans worried about Burton tampering with the legacy of the 1988 original, which grossed $73.7 million, won an Academy Award for Best Makeup, and put Burton, Keaton, and Ryder on Hollywood's A-list. "It's a very precious movie to people," she explained. "So there are a lot people like, 'DON'T.'"

But when Ryder heard that Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Burton's Dark Shadows) had penned a sequel set decades after the first film, she was immediately intrigued.

"It's not a remake," Ryder revealed. "It's 27 years later. And I have to say, I love Lydia [Deetz, Ryder's teenage goth character] so much. She was such a huge part of me. I would be really interested in what she is doing 27 years later."

Even today, Ryder, who was 17 when Beetlejuice was shot, feels closer to Burton's masterpiece than many of her other movies. "That's one of those movies where little kids stop me," she said. "I'm so associated with it. I think it gave me my career. I was such a weird looking kid."

Still, Ryder insisted that if Burton and Keaton had passed, she would have, too. "I would never go near [a sequel] if it was not Tim and Michael," she said. "Because those guys, I love."

Fortunately, a Burton-Keaton-Ryder reunion now looks increasingly likely. It's showtime.

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Andrew Romano

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