After a long wait and a lot of speculation about it, Beetlejuice 2 is officially happening with Tim Burton back as director and Michael Keaton reprising his role as the title character, but the casting of one main actor proves Burton has found Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter’s replacements. Back in 1988, Tim Burton brought Beetlejuice, a fantasy horror comedy that fully displayed his filmmaking and narrative style, with gothic elements, strange but charming characters, and a variety of monsters and creatures.
Beetlejuice introduced the audience to Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin), a young couple who on their way back to their country home, get into a car accident and die, but they aren’t aware that they are dead. Meanwhile, their house is purchased by the Deetz family, but as the Maitlands can’t leave the house for the next 125 years, it’s up to them to get rid of the Deetz, which becomes tricky when they befriend the Deetz’s daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder). The Maitlands end up summoning “bio-exorcist” Beetlejuice to scare the Deetz, but Beetlejuice only brings more trouble for everyone. Beetlejuice left the audience wanting more of the title character, and now, over three decades later, he’s coming back in Beetlejuice 2, with Jenna Ortega starring alongside Keaton – and this proves she’s the new replacement for Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in Burton’s movies.
Jenna Ortega Is Tim Burton’s New Top Star – Not Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter
Jenna Ortega has joined the cast of Beetlejuice 2 as the daughter of Lydia, with Winona Ryder reprising her role as Lydia Deetz. Jenna Ortega is currently one of the biggest stars in film and TV/streaming, so it’s not surprising that the rumors turned out to be true and she’s now going to star in Beetlejuice 2, but this also shows that she’s now Tim Burton’s new top star, taking the place of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Ortega’s most recent hit was her performance as Wednesday Addams in Netflix’s Wednesday, executive produced by Burton, who also directed half of the episodes.
Ortega jumping to Burton’s next big project right after having just starred in Wednesday suggests that she’s Burton’s new go-to star, very much like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter used to be. Burton, like many other filmmakers, has many frequent collaborators, the most notable ones being Depp and Bonham Carter, with whom he worked in a total of eight and seven movies, respectively. Wednesday and Beetlejuice 2, then, might be just the beginning of Jenna Ortega becoming Tim Burton’s newest frequent collaborator.
Beetlejuice 2 Could Give Jenna Ortega A Johnny Depp Career Problem
Beetlejuice 2 can give yet another boost to Jenna Ortega’s career, but coming so soon after Wednesday, it could also give her a Johnny Depp career problem. Although the world of Beetlejuice and that of the Addams Family are separate ones, they are not so different from each other, especially in terms of tone and visual style, so by playing Wednesday and Lydia’s daughter (supposing she follows her mother’s gothic style), Jenna Ortega risks being typecast, which is what happened to Johnny Depp after playing characters like Edward Scissorhands and Sweney Todd. The best way to avoid this is to have a real separation between Wednesday Addams and Lydia’s daughter in Beetlejuice 2, and have more variety if Jenna Ortega continues to work with Tim Burton.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
