Hocus Pocus 2: Fan-Favorite Star Declined Offer to Return for Disney+ Sequel

While spring is just getting started and Halloween is months away, there's already plenty of excitement for Hocus Pocus 2, the eagerly anticipated sequel to the much-loved 1993 film. However, while fans are excited to see Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy return as the Sanderson sisters, there is one star of the original film who was offered a chance to come back for the sequel but declined. According to Entertainment Weekly, Thora Birch was asked to reprise her role as Dani Dannison in the Disney+ film, but due to scheduling conflicts had to decline.

According to the report, a source close to Birch said that the actress was asked to return in a supporting role as an adult version of Dani, but obligations to Wednesday, Netflix's Addams Family spinoff series, created a scheduling conflict. Birch left Wednesday back in December due to a personal matter. The report goes on to note that had Birch been able to be part of Hocus Pocus 2, the film would have seen Dani working to help Becca (Gossip Girl's Whitney Peak), Cassie (Dirt's Lila Buckingham), and Izzy (American Horror Stories' Belissa Escobedo) with their own efforts to stop the Sanderson sisters as they seek revenge on Salem 29 years after the events of the first film.

In the first film, Birch's Dani, along with older brother Max (Omri Katz) and his girlfriend Allison (Vinessa Shaw) escaped the Sanderson siters after Max inadvertently lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the witches, allowing them to attempt to capture the souls of young children, granting them eternal life.  The sequel film is said to follow a similar structure.

"I am beyond thrilled to be involved in the sequel to a film that is as beloved as Hocus Pocus," director Anne Fletcher shared in a statement last fall. "Fans around the world have embraced these characters and have made this film a Halloween tradition whose popularity continues to grow, and how lucky am I to be back at Disney with these three extraordinarily talented ladies in the iconic roles they created, as well as our fabulous new additions to the cast?"

Hocus Pocus 2 is set to debut this fall on Disney+.

Are you disappointed Birch reportedly had to decline appearing in Hocus Pocus 2? Are you looking forward to the sequel? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!