Why aren't Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has a staggering ensemble cast, much like the original film. Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton and Catherine O'Hara are coming back, and will be joined by newcomers like Jenna Ortega, Monica Belluci and Willem Dafoe.

There are two actors, though, who are still active, and are not involved in this reunion: Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. The Emmy winner and Oscar winner played a married couple who also happened to be ghosts in the original film. They're actually the ones who summon the titular Beetlejuice in the final act. Their absence is notable, and director Tim Burton has finally addressed it.

Tim Burton wanted to take the story in a new direction

The director told People that he loved working with Baldwin and Davis the first time around, but he wanted to focus on different characters and stories in the sequel. As a result, the duo of Adam and Barbara Maitland were axed from the story:

"“I think the thing was for me I didn’t want to just tick any boxes. So even though they were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focusing on something else."

Instead, Burton wanted to focus on Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), the teenager who befriended the Maitlands in the first film. Deetz getting older, and struggling to connect with her daughter, the same way she struggled to connect with her own mother, was what ultimately drew Burton back.

Geena Davis noted that ghosts don't age

Geena Davis, who recently appeared in the horror-thriller Blink Twice, also noted that there would have been a continuity issue if she and Baldwin were to return. Their characters were ghosts in the first film, so it would make no sense if they were to appear older in the sequel.

"I'm not in the remake," Davis told Entertainment Tonight in April. "You were expecting that I would be? Yeah, no, you know what? Because my theory is that ghosts don't age... Not that I have." It's a pretty excellent point, and one that would have potentially been distracting throughout the film.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice releases on September 6.