Hocus Pocus 2 Star Doug Jones Opens Up About Resurrecting Billy Butcherson for the Sequel

The Sanderson Sisters weren’t the only ones brought back to the land of the living for Hocus Pocus 2. Disney’s long-awaited sequel took fans back to the magical town of Salem 29 years after the original Hocus Pocus release, and the film brought with it the return of beloved zombie Billy Butcherson. Once again, Billy Butcherson was raised from the dead for an adventure, and actor Doug Jones had been waiting quite a long time to hear that news.

Jones recently spoke with Collider about Billy Butcherson’s Hocus Pocus return. The actor revealed that he has always thought Billy deserved more story, and that he’s long hoped to bring the character back for another film.

“I’ve been asked, in many interviews over the years, and I’ve been acting for 36 years now, is there any one character I’ve played that I would love to revisit again? And Billy Butcherson was always my number one answer,” Jones said. “There were more layers to him and I wanted more backstory. When you’ve had a career like mine, and you’re glued into so much rubber and glue, and contact lenses and mechanics, and you can’t go to the bathroom with your hand claws on, I don’t always look forward to going into work because I know the day I have ahead of me. But Billy was a character that was human-ish, with humor, goofiness, fun, and a family friendly vibe, who was headed toward a happy ending. All of that made going into work a joy. I thought, ‘I wanna do that again.’” 

Not only did Jones love playing the character of Billy, but he also had a lot of love for the cast he got to work with in the original movie. He wasn’t going to pass up a chance to work with the Sanderson Sisters again.

“When that call came, I was excited to get to do all of that again. I got to reunite with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy, which was so dreamy,” Jones continued. “The difference between 30 years, working with them, is that I was starstruck the first time. I was such a huge fan of Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, who had done The Kathy & Mo Show and Sister Act, at that time. They were all huge, in my world. I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’m on the same set with these people. Oh, my gosh!’ Coming back, you never lose your starstruck-ness, really, or I don’t. I was still like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there they are again.’ But now, with the 30 years that have passed, my career has gone places, and thankfully, I’ve been very blessed with what’s happened in my life, that they were treating me, and we were interacting more as peers. That was a big difference that I noticed, and was very happy about. We’re all 30 years older, and have matured and come through a lot of life in that time, so there was a lot to chat about on set. It was really quite lovely.”

Hocus Pocus 2 is now streaming on Disney+.