‘Hocus Pocus 2’ will arrive this year, little children! Producer Adam Shankman revealed that filming has ended, and the highly-anticipated sequel will be the biggest treat of the Halloween season.
The Sanderson sisters will live to witch another day in Hocus Pocus 2. Your three favorite witches — Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy — are reprising the iconic roles of Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson in the upcoming Hocus Pocus 2. They’ll be joined by some new and familiar faces as their spooky adventures continue.
Hocus Pocus 2 potential release date: When is Hocus Pocus 2 released?
While we don’t yet have a specific release date, we do know that Hocus Pocus 2 will arrive on Disney+ in Autumn 2022, thanks to Midler who tweeted: “Sistaaaahs! It’s been 300 years… But we’re BACK! #HocusPocus2 arrives Fall 2022.”
We’d imagine that means it arriving around Halloween in October 2022, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. It could well be on October 31 as Shankman wrote on Instagram: “Coming to you #halloween #2022.”
Disney has yet to confirm the specific release date though, so watch this space. What we do know though is that filming started on the sequel in Rhode Island on October 18, 2021 and wrapped in late January 2022.
Now, all we can do is wait for Hocus Pocus 2 to arrive, but to fill that witchy-shaped hole in your life, you can rewatch the original movie on Disney+.
Hocus Pocus 2 cast: Who’s in Hocus Pocus 2?
Bette Midler had pretty much confirmed in October 2020 that she’d be back for the sequel alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as Winifred, Sarah and Mary Sanderson, respectively.
We had to wait for an official announcement in May 2021 that the trio would definitely be back as the witchy trio, but really, it wouldn’t have been a Hocus Pocus movie without them.
We don’t yet know if any other stars from the original movie will be back, such as Omri Katz as Max Dennison, Thora Birch as Dani Dennison and Vinessa Shaw as Allison.
As of October 2021, Shaw revealed that she hadn’t heard anything about the sequel, but would “love to know more about it”. Since filming has started, she’s either not in it or just keeping it very secret.
One person we do know who’s in the sequel though is Veep star Sam Richardson, but we don’t yet know who he’ll be playing. He has been teasing that he’s just as much of a fan of Hocus Pocus as the rest of us.
“To work with the ladies is… I’m outside of myself when I’m doing these scenes,” he told ET. “I’m like, ‘This is them!’ The Sanderson sisters are like there, doing their spells and I have a grin on my face.”
Fittingly, Disney confirmed more new cast members on Halloween with Richardson’s Veep co-star Tony Hale joining the sequel alongside Ted Lasso and Game of Thrones star Hannah Waddingham, both of them in mysterious roles.
Waddingham is remaining tight-lipped about her role, but like Richardson, it’s clear she’s just as much of a Hocus Pocus fan as us.
“I turned up for my fitting in Rhode Island and the second assistant director said, ‘All the ladies would like to meet you’. Honestly, my jaw dropped off. I went and sat with them in their costumes. Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler and the mighty SJP,” she told Variety.
“And I sat there while they were having their lunch break with them in their full garb. It felt like a competition where I felt like I was going to have to leave the room and then pay somebody 1,000 pounds or something.”
According to set photos, Hale looks like he’s playing Salem mayor Jefry Traske, but this hasn’t been officially confirmed by Disney.
The cast announcement also revealed that Doug Jones is returning as Billy Butcherson, while Whitney Peak, Lilia Buckingham and Belissa Escobedo play Becca, Cassie and Izzy, respectively, three teenagers who become the target of the Sanderson Sisters.
We got our first look at the trio in an Instagram set photo shared by Buckingham on the final day of filming for Peak and Escobedo. “These last four months have been some of the most insane, and most incredible of my whole life,” she wrote.
“I’m still in awe of the fact that I got to watch and learn from all of the people on this set. And to Whit and Bel, thank you for becoming my sisters. I’ve learned more from the two of you than you could ever know. See you soon witches. You’re in for a hell of a ride.”
Juju Brener, Froy Gutierrez, Taylor Henderson and Nina Kitchen round out the cast, but there have been no details about who they’re playing.
Hocus Pocus 2 plot: What will Hocus Pocus 2 be about?
Along with the official announcement in May 2021, we got our first plot details about what we can expect from the sequel.
“Three young women accidentally bring the Sanderson Sisters back to modern-day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on the world,” it reads.
This does sound a little bit like the book sequel that was released in July 2018 which centred on Max and Allison’s daughter Poppy, her friend Travis and a girl called Isabella who Poppy has a crush on.
In order to impress Isabella, Poppy sneaks into the Sanderson house during a blood moon and accidentally brings the sisters back to life. It’s unclear if this is exactly what will happen in the movie sequel, so might end up being non-canon.
The first movie ended (spoiler alert) with the magic book winking its eye, proving it’s still alive and the witches could return… Ooo0ooo000ooOOOoo.
While we might not know much more about the sequel, it’s good enough for us to know that the returning stars have been singing its praises. “We looked at [the script] and I think all of us agreed that it was pretty great,” Midler said in November 2020.
When will the Hocus Pocus 2 trailer come ?
While the sequel has completed filmed, we reckon we’ve still got to wait a few months for a Hocus Pocus 2 trailer.
We have at least had one whole second of footage in Disney+’s 2022 teaser, so you could just watch that on a loop for now.
The teaser trailer for Hocus Pocus 2 was just released last month, and you can watch it here.
The black flame candle is alight to the Sanderson sisters’ delight.
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) October 31, 2021
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, & Kathy Najimy shall soon return.
Joined by new faces which you soon will learn.
See more of the spellbinding cast in the next Tweet.
Enjoy this All Hallows Eve treat.👇 pic.twitter.com/yHPAl2TBmq
Hocus Pocus 2 will premiere exclusively on Disney+ in autumn 2022. Hocus Pocus is available to watch on Disney+.
