Hocus Pocus Stars Say They “Weren’t Invited” To Be in the Sequel

Beloved film Hocus Pocus finally got a sequel after nearly three decades last year, but while the series saw the return of Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters, there were several other stars of the original film who didn’t appear in the sequel. Now, during a panel at 90s Con this weekend, it was revealed that, for some of those familiar faces, they didn’t return because they were not asked. Omri Katz, who played Maxwell “Max” Dennison in the original film, said they “weren’t invited” to be in the sequel.

“We weren’t invited to that meeting. So, we don’t really know why we weren’t invited,” Katz said during the panel (via People). “I think the fan base really wanted to see something with us … I don’t know. It’s hard to really figure out the decisions that are made regarding what they want to do.”

Thora Birch, who played Danielle “Dani” Dennison, added that having original stars return was something that was discussed, but that the process of getting to the sequel was a long one, and sometimes things just don’t work out.

“The desire [and] the concept of maybe doing [a sequel] was about 10 years,” Birch said. “But then there were numbers of different writers that came on board and different directors, and so the story and the concept and the direction in which they wanted to take, too, kept evolving and changing and growing.”

She continued, “I do know that there were, along the way, some concepts and some ideas about ways to bring us back. And for whatever reason, it just didn’t work. Some of us were going to be on, some of us weren’t. And then it just was a roller coaster ride. What we like to say in the business: we had scheduling conflicts.”

Who Returned for Hocus Pocus 2?

Not every actor from 1993’s Hocus Pocus came back for the sequel, but the three Sanderson Sisters definitely did. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy all reprised their roles for Hocus Pocus 2. Doug Jones also returned to the franchise to play the undead Billy Butcherson.

“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 told Collider in an interview. “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.”

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