Every Main Character Who Dies In Tim Burton’s Sequel

There are major spoilers for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” in this story, so proceed with caution!

It’s not everyday that the main characters in a movie are dead, but that’s exactly what “Beetlejuice” did back in 1988. 

Tim Burton’s macabre comedy followed Adam & Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), two simple, rural residents ready to enjoy a summer in their quiet country home in Winter River, Connecticut, until their lives were tragically cut short by a car accident that left them dead. Upon returning to their home, it takes them awhile to realize they’re actually dead, and they soon find that the afterlife can be a confusing and scary place. But even scarier is the prospect of losing their home to Delia, Charles, and Lydia Deetz (Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, and Winona Ryder), recently arrived yuppies from New York City who are about to completely overhaul the house with a tragically post-modern makeover, courtesy of the eccentric artistic side of Delia.

With the help of an unpredictable bio-exorcist named Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), Adam and Barbara seek to rid themselves of the Deetz family, but they inadvertently give themselves and their unlikely new friend Lydia a pesky demon who needs to be dispatched with himself. Cue the gothic circus and sandworm madness that resulted in one of the most original and surprisingly enduring comedies of the 1980s. 

When it comes to “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the sequel over 35 years in the making, Tim Burton tries hard to capture the oddity and magic of his peculiar, original movie, but he comes up a little short. Even so, it’s enough to be the most interesting thing the “Batman” filmmaker has done in 15 years, and it takes some big swings with the trajectory of many of the film’s characters, from familiar faces in the original movie to new characters like Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) adding a new wrinkle to the story.

With the afterlife being such a big part of “Beetlejuice,” it should come as no surprise that the sequel includes some surprising character deaths across the board, and we’ve broken down all the spoiler-filled details for you. So let’s pour out some Beetlejuice for all the characters who joined the afterlife (and even beyond) in “Beetlejuice 2.”

This particular death in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is no secret, because the trailers for the sequel indicated that a return to Winter River was brought about because of the death of Charles Deetz. But what’s surprising is how the character’s fate is revealed, as well as the fact that the character still has a fairly prominent presence throughout the movie. However, they didn’t use visual effects magic to bring Jeffrey Jones back without using the character. The actor is still very much alive in real life, but due to incriminating charges in 2002, Jones is not getting work in Hollywood anytime soon.

For those who hadn’t heard, Jeffrey Jones was arrested on child pornography charges that alleged he convinced an underage male to appear in an inappropriate video. In 2003, Jones plead no contest (via Entertainment Weekly) and was sentenced to five years probation and placed on the national register of sex offenders for life. So how did they bring back Charles Deetz for a “Beetlejuice 2” appearance?

First, in order to depict the death of Charles, director Tim Burton utilizes stop-motion animation to reveal that the patriarch was in a plane crash while returning from a bird-watching trip overseas. Though Charles survived the crash in the ocean, other survivors indicated that he was eaten by a shark, and we see the giant sea beast totally bite off Charles’ head, neck, and even part of his upper torso, complete with a spectacular splatter of blood. But believe it or not, that’s not the last we see of Charles.

Upon his death, like many other deceased people before him, Charles ends up in the afterlife in the exact condition he was when he died. That means Charles is trying to navigate the afterlife without a head, making it easy to use the character without needing the actual face of Jeffrey Jones (though his likeness appears on a glass, shark fin-shaped tombstone at the funeral). As for the voice of Charles, they don’t need it to sound exactly like Jeffrey Jones either, as we hear it in a gargled form, with blood spurting out from his esophagus whenever he speaks.

This might be the most clever way that a character has been depicted in a movie when the actor who originally portrayed them wasn’t brought back to reprise the role. Though at this point, I don’t think anyone would have argued against Jones actually being eaten by a shark.

In one of the more surprising twists in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” how Lydia’s teenage daughter Astrid ends up in the afterlife is actually one of the more interesting story points. While trying to get away from the stress of her family in the wake of her grandfather’s funeral, Astrid takes a bike ride through Winter River, but she ends up crashing through someone’s fence and into a tree. That’s when she meets Jeremy, a charming young man who also feels a bit like an outsider in town. 

However, Jeremy is an outsider for a different reason. He’s dead, and he can’t leave the house. During a little Halloween date in Jeremy’s house, Astrid learns she has fallen for a ghost. While she’s initially freaked out, Jeremy convinces Astrid to stick around by claiming that he can take her into the afterlife to see her father, who died some time ago when she was younger, creating a rift between she and Lydia. Utilizing an incantation in “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased,” Jeremy is able to bring the living Astrid into the afterlife.

Unfortunately, that incantation wasn’t just to get Astrid into the afterlife. It was actually a spell that allowed Jeremy to swap Astrid’s life for his, giving him the ability to come back to life while Astrid has to remain in the afterlife, forced aboard the Soul Train to the Great Beyond. 

Why is Jeremy suddenly so deceptive? Well, he was never really a nice guy, because as Lydia suddenly learns back in the world of the living, Jeremy killed his mother and father 26 years ago, which explains why he doesn’t introduce Astrid to them when she comes in the house. Seeing his mother with a wine corkscrew in her eye and father with an electric saw in the middle of his face would have given everything away. Folks, don’t trust anyone who won’t introduce you to their parents without a good reason, even if they have cool ’90s vinyl records.

That means Astrid technically dies in her sojourn to the afterlife, her soul taken with the quick flash of a camera, kind of like how you feel whenever you’re at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. But thankfully, she’s not without her soul for long, thanks to the magic of bureaucracy.

Although Jeremy succeeds at snatching Astrid’s soul, allowing him to come back to life, he has one last bit of red tape to clear before it’s official. As Astrid is ushered off to the Soul Train, Jeremy needs to get a stamp on his paperwork to finalize the deal. 

Thankfully, Astrid’s father Richard (played by Santiago Cabrera) really is in the afterlife, working as a clerk in that very same department. What a coincidence! He notices Astrid being dragged away to the Soul Train and goes to retrieve her. Elsewhere, Lydia is also on the hunt for Astrid in the afterlife, having reluctantly brought back Betelgeuse to help find her daughter in exchange for her hand in marriage (again).

After evading afterlife officials and having a little family reunion, Lydia, Astrid and Richard head back to stop Jeremy from getting his final stamp. While it initially seems like they’re too late, Betelgeuse appears behind the clerk’s desk with a cheeky stamp that denies his attempt to live again. Suddenly, Jeremy is sucked into the fiery depths of what we can only assume is hell, and he’s basically dead all over again. It seems paperwork really will be the death of all of us, even in the afterlife.

Delia Deetz was always the weirdest of the Deetz family. An eccentric artist always trying too hard to be unique, it should come as no surprise that her method of mourning is bizarre, to say the least. In addition to covering the Deetz family house in large black shrouds to signify her sadness, the entire grieving process is being treated as a form of artistic impression. Though you might not anticipate Delia to be broken up by the death of Charles, at least based on how she treated him in the original movie, it would seem they did have a satisfying marriage, and she’s truly heartbroken by his death.

In fact, Delia is so distressed by the passing of Charles that she’s decided to try out some kind of ceremony that will allow her to commune with him in the afterlife. With the assistance of some candles and venomous asp snakes (that have allegedly been drained of their venom), Delia sits at Charles’ grave and attempts to spiritually reconnect with him. But Delia has been scammed. Two snakes immediately lunge for her neck, and they’re actually still venomous, immediately killing Delia. 

Of course, Delia is nonplussed by being sent to the afterlife, and she tries to Karen her way into speaking with the manager. Like everyone in the afterlife, she’s forced to grab a number and wait. But she also realizes that she can probably find Charles. When all is said and done, not even death is enough to keep Charles and Delia apart. Despite the fact that Charles no longer has a head or most of his upper torso, Delia is happy to have him back. That’s true love!

That covers the main characters from “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” but there are a pair of supporting characters who also have disastrous fates.

First, we have Delores, the former scorned lover of Betelgeuse, played by Monica Bellucci. An accident involving an afterlife janitor (Danny DeVito), a floor buffing machine, a puddle of water, and accidental electrocution causes the scattered body parts of Delores to come back to life and find each other. Not entirely unlike Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (which wasn’t actually directed by Tim Burton), Delores pieces herself back together with the help of staples and the song “Tragedy” by the Bee Gees. In her hunt for her ex-husband, Delores doesn’t hesitate to literally suck the soul out of anyone in the afterlife who gets in her way or can’t help her, effectively turning dead people into shrunken piles of dead flesh. Before her death, she was also part of some kind of creepy cult, and she poisoned Betelgeuse as a human sacrifice.

Warner Bros.

Through the entire movie, Delores is trying to track down Betelgeuse for revenge. When she finally finds him, it’s at the second wedding he’s set up in an attempt to marry Lydia and get himself back into the world of the living. This is the climax of the movie, and it’s also where Betelgeuse executes a helpful trick to free Lydia of her commitment to marry Rory (Justin Theroux), who also happens to be the producer of her “Ghost House” TV series, benefitting from her paranormal gifts and the fame she’s garnered because of it. While Lydia’s attraction originally came from them both grieving the loss of a loved one, Betelgeuse uses a truth serum to reveal that Rory has been lying the entire time, and he was only interested in Lydia for the financial gains. 

With both Delores and Rory being absolutely despicable people, they each deserve their ultimate fate together. Both are eaten by a sandworm that Astrid summons through a makeshift door in the floor of the church of Betelgeuse and Lydia’s wedding. There must not be a lot to eat on the deserts of Saturn’s moon Titan, because those sandworms are perpetually hungry. Though as the original “Beetlejuice” proved, being eaten by a sandworm doesn’t mean you’re done for. Beetlejuice met the same fate, and he somehow survived to come back for the sequel. So maybe Rory and Delores could both be back for revenge in a potential “Beetlejuice 3,” or “Threetlejuice.”

In addition to the likes of Danny DeVito’s janitor and an unfortunate dry cleaner employee having their souls sucked out by Delores, there’s one other resident of the afterlife who ends up deader than dead. Yes, it’s possible to die even more in the afterlife, and having your soul sucked out will do the trick. Unfortunately, one of Betelgeuse’s employees in the afterlife is turned into a pile of flesh, thanks to Delores’ deadly lips.

Bob is a man with a shrunken head. We’re not entirely sure if Bob is the same shrunken head safari hunter who Betelgeuse encountered at the end of the original movie while waiting for his number to be called, but at the very least, he seems to have encountered the same witch doctor that shrunk Betelgeuse’s head. Why didn’t Betelgeuse help them get their heads unshrunk? We’re not sure, but Bob isn’t the only one with a shrunken head. There’s a whole squad of underlings who have similar heads and equally plain names like Brad. 

Sadly, Bob gets his soul sucked out by Delores, and he’s no longer with us. Bob even gets his own “RIP” title card during the film’s credits, where each of the shrunken head people are credited with their character names. We’ll miss you, Bob!