Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: Winona Ryder Shares New Details About Lydia’s Return

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will bring back Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, the goth girl whose fascination with the paranormal had her stumble into the world of the afterlife and almost become the bride of Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice. We know that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will have Lydia as a mother to her teenage daughter, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), but there’s also more to Lydia’s continuing story.

Winona Ryder (along with the rest of the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice cast) is getting some feature attention in Empire Magazine. During the interviews, Ryder shared a few more details about where we find Lydia in the Beetlejuice sequel.

“I went through so many stages of, ‘Who is she now?’, but I always wanted to have it be Lydia. She can’t lose who she was,” Ryder explained to Empire. “She can’t be the same person, she can’t be just completely deadpan, she has to have evolved, but she also has to have kept that thing she had when we first met her. So that was the big challenge for me.”

One of the big changes in Lydia’s life (besides motherhood) is that she now has Elvira-style TV series called Ghost House With Lydia Deetz. If you watch the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice trailer, you can catch a small snippet of Lydia doing the show – a great reflection of all the paranormal reality series (ex: Ghost Hunters) that have come along since the original Beetlejuice’s release. Given Lydia’s experience with seeing the afterlife, she is uniquely suited to offer expertise on the subject – although we suspect the reception from the Internet wouldn’t be universally glowing. 

Behind the scenes, Ryder admitted that getting back into the character was hard – especially after so much real life has passed since she first played the role. “You know, you grow up, and things change. Life happens.” 

Still, the process of making the Beetlejuice sequel seems to have been a breakthrough experience for Ryder. She echoes Michael Keaton and director Tim Burton in her excitement over what they’ve done with the sequel.

“I struggle to find the words. It’s just one of the most special experiences that I’ve ever had. The fact that we’re coming back to it, it’s… It’s beyond,” Ryder explained. “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this way. This is a first for me. I’ve never revisited a character, ever.”

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be released in theaters on September 6th.