A new official image from Hocus Pocus 2 shows off the return of Billy Butcherson. Hocus Pocus 2, which was helmed by Step Up and The Proposal director Anne Fletcher, is a nearly three decades belated sequel to the original 1993 Halloween classic. Coming exclusively to Disney+ on September 30, 2022, the film will feature a new crop of teens in modern-day Salem – including witch-obsessed Becca (Gossip Girl's Whitney Peak) – who light the Black Flame Candle and accidentally bring about the return of the trio of witches known as the Sanderson sisters, namely Winnie (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy).
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Billy Butcherson is yet another original character who will be returning. The character, who was played by iconic monster actor Doug Jones, is an ex-boyfriend of Winnie's who she poisoned back in the 1600s after he cheated on her with Sarah. In the 1990s, he is resurrected as a zombie in the modern day and tasked with hunting down the children the witches are after, spending much of the movie traveling across town while getting into various slapstick scrapes. This time around when he is resurrected, he will be on the teens' sides more or less immediately and reportedly find a bit of a bromance with the Salem Magic Shoppe owner Gilbert, played by Veep's Sam Richardson.
EW shared a brand new first-look image from Hocus Pocus 2. The image doesn't reveal too much about the nature of Billy's involvement in the new film. However, it is an incredibly moody and atmospheric shot of the character in a cemetery, presumably just after being resurrected yet again. Although his makeup is still family friendly, he looks ever so slightly more decomposed and bedraggled after the intervening 30 years. Check out the full-size image below:
While Billy’s look is similar enough to help fuel the nostalgia of fans of the original, it will be interesting to see if Jones has made any new choices to update the character for the modern age, and catch up with 30 more years of moldering. Billy Butcherson was one of the actor’s very first roles, and he has had many years of experience bringing the monstrous to life. In the meantime, he has played roles including Abe Sapien in the Hellboy movies, the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth, the Baron in FX’s What We Do in the Shadows, the titular monster in The Bye Bye Man, and the Amphibian in the Best Picture-winning The Shape of Water.
Jones already showed his slapstick chops in the original Hocus Pocus. It stands to reason that he’ll be bringing that sensibility back for Hocus Pocus 2. However, there’s no reason he can’t imbue the role with something more rooted in all the genuine horror he has been able to bring to the screen in the meantime, helping push the sequel to become even more of a Halloween treat.