Beetlejuice 2 Adds Monica Bellucci As Beetlejuice's Wife

Beetlejuice 2 is fully into production over at Warner Bros. Pictures, and the cast seems to be growing by the day. Just after it was reported that Justin Theroux (The Leftovers) had joined the cast of Beetlejuice 2, a new report is out, stating that Italian actress Monica Bellucci (Spectre, Mafia Mamma) is also joining the cast – as Beetlejuice's wife! 

That's an interesting twist, as one would have to imagine the woman who tamed Beetlejuice is quite a "ghost with the most" in her own right (or a truly weird living woman). The first film admittedly doesn't play well with a finale centering on Beetlejuice trying to make Lydia his teenage bride (oh The '80s...). Hopefully, the sequel can have some fun with that awkward callback. Viewers have already gotten a taste of Monica Bellucci as a femme fatale: she famously played the "emotional vampire" Persephone in The Matrix Sequels (Reloaded and Revolutions). However, knowing the world of Beetlejuice, she'll probably get a much more zany and fun character to play. 

Michael Keaton is returning to play Beetlejuice, with Tim Burton returning to direct the sequel, with a script by Wednesday's Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Original composer Danny Elfman also is set to return. Actress Jenna Ortega will go from working with Burton on the Addams Family TV spinoff Wednesday to starring in Beetlejuice 2 as the daughter of Lydia Deetz, with Winona Ryder returning as Lydia, and Catherine O'Haha returning as Lydia's step-mother Delia. There's speculation that Theroux is playing the father of Ortega's character. 

Beetlejuice 2 is looking at a release date of early September 2024, so it's understandable that we're hearing the casting news coming out at this rapid pace. Plot details of the film are being kept under wraps, but with so many returning cast members, and Jenna Ortega in the central role after her big year as a goth/horror queen (Wednesday and Scream VI), fans seem okay with how this sequel is taking shape. 

MAJOR 35-YEAR SPOILERS! 

The original Beetlejuice saw a couple named Adam and Barbara (Alec Baldwin and Gena Davis) die unexpectedly while driving into town, and wind up as ghosts trapped in their scenic upstate home. That home gets purchased by some eccentric New York yuppies, including would-be artist Delia Deetz (O'Hara); Delia's step-daughter Lydia (Ryder) is a morose Goth-girl, and the only one who can see Adam and Barb's ghosts. To get the Deetz out of their house, Adam and Barb turn to a ghostly "bio-exorcist" named Beetlejuice (Keaton) to chase the Deetz away. 

In the end, Beetlejuice proved uncontrollable, pursuing his own scheme of pulling off a ritual marriage that would let him freely run amok in the mortal world. Could Bellucci's character be the one who finally got him there? 

Beetlejuice 2 is looking at a release date of early September 2024,