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    • Why aren’t the Maitlands in the movie?
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    Why aren’t the Maitlands in the movie?

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    36 years after the release of the original, Beetlejuice finally returns for a sequel with Beetlejuice – The Great Adventure hits theaters next week, and while many of our favorite characters are returning, there are two people we won’t be seeing on screen: Barbara and Adam Maitland. And now Tim Burton has revealed why the two characters are missing from the new film.

    In case you need a quick recap, in the original film, Barbara and Adam Maitland, played by Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin, were a married couple who died when they plunged their car into a river to avoid running over a dog. Their spirits live on in their old home, brought by the Deetz family, which includes Lydia (Winona Ryder), her father Charles (Jeffrey Jones), and her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara).

    In order to keep their home and not have to share it with the Deetzes, the Maitlands enlist the services of the demon Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) to scare the family away, which doesn’t quite go according to plan. However, by the end of the film (spoiler alert!), the two families are living in harmony in the house.

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    Courtesy of Warner Bros

    Why don’t the Maitlands return in the new film? Well, the film’s director, Tim Burton, revealed that he wanted to create a completely new story that doesn’t feature the Maitlands.

    In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Burton explained that he wanted to focus on the story of three generations of women: Delia, Lydia and their daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), who return to the Connecticut house after Charles’ death.

    “I think for me it was that I didn’t want to just tick any boxes. Even though they (the Maitlands) were such an amazing integral part of the first one, I was focused on something else,” Burton said in an interview with People.

    “A sequel like this really had something to do with the times. That was my approach, the three generations of mother, daughter, granddaughter. And that (would be) the core of it. I personally couldn’t have done that in 1989 or something.”

    Lydia and BeetlejuicePinterest

    Warner Bros.

    That’s all well and good, but what happened to the Maitlands? If you remember the original film, they were supposed to spend 125 years in the house, but that much time hasn’t passed yet.

    As it turns out, the new film explains that they found a “loophole” that allowed them to leave the house.

    Ok, now we really can’t wait to see the movie and get a more detailed explanation of what exactly happened to the Maitlands.

    Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will be in cinemas from September 6th

    Portrait photo of Lydia Venn

    Lydia Venn

    Senior Entertainment and Lifestyle Writer

    Lydia Venn is Cosmopolitan UK’s senior entertainment and lifestyle writer, covering everything from , to the latest celebrity news. She also writes regularly for our Work/Life section, breaking down exciting new releases and sharing the latest must-haves. In her role, she has interviewed everyone from Margot Robbie to Niall Horan, and her work has been featured on an episode of . After completing an English degree at the University of Exeter, Lydia moved into journalism, writing for , before working as Features Editor at , where she spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and talk radio. She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of Gilmore Girls and 00s teen films, and in her spare time you can find her watching The Real Housewives on repeat, margarita in hand. Find her on .

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    Madoc Meredith
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