Fans officially have a terrifying first-look photo at Doug Jones, who is returning as zombie Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus 2.
The film's director, Anne Fletcher, exclusively told Entertainment Weekly that the return of Jones "does something to your soul, it's so surreal, it's so mind-blowing," adding, "He's in a moment of betrayal [in the scene], so you're looking at this beloved character in such a way who's been hurt, and it blows your socks off. I'll never forget that."
Billy Butcherson's appearance in Hocus Pocus 2 was confirmed in February 2022, when Jones himself posted a photo on Twitter of himself in full zombie apparel. He noted that the makeup took "just a couple hours" to apply, while the prosthetics took "weeks" to construct.
The Witches Are Back
As for the story Billy will find himself in the middle of, the synopsis for the Hocus Pocus sequel explains, "It's been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters who were executed for practicing witchcraft, and now they're looking for revenge. Now it's up to three high-school students to figure out how to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before midnight on All Hallow's Eve."
The film is set to premiere on Disney+ on Sept. 30, 2022, just in time for Halloween. The release date announcement was accompanied by a clip of Winnie Sanderson, played by Bette Midler, saying "Lock up your children! Yes, Salem, we're back!"
On accepting her role in the sequel decades later, Midler said the filmmakers presented her and her co-stars "with an outline, and after we picked ourselves up off the floor because it's been 27 years, we looked at it and I think all of us agreed it was pretty great."
Midler added that her and her Hocus Pocus co-stars, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy, who are also appearing in the sequel, have remained friends since the first film. "We've been in touch for years," she explained. "Kathy is a very strong feminist presence in the city, and so whenever she needs someone to show her up or to do a video or to testify or anything like that, she always calls us." She added that she's known Parker for "many, many years, and we have so many of the same friends in common that we do go to dinners and we've been to each other's houses and all that sort of thing."
Hocus Pocus 2 hits Disney+ on Sept. 30.
Source: Entertainment Weekly