American actress Jenna Ortega is circling a role in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice 2”.
Ortega is in talks to play the daughter of Lydia Deetz, portrayed by Winona Ryder in the original movie.
The project marks her second time collaborating with Burton, who was an executive producer on Netflix’s recent series reboot “Wednesday” and directed four of its eight episodes.
She starred as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix horror comedy series, a performance that earned her received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Michael Keaton is also set to reprise his role as the title character. The sequel has been in the works at Warner Bros. for some time before Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B officially boarded it in February 2022.
The original “Beetlejuice” centers on Charles (Jeffrey Jones), Delia (Catherine O’Hara), and Lydia Deetz (Ryder), who inhabit a home previously occupied by the Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis).
The Maitlands died in a car accident, but their ghost selves want to re-inhabit their former house, recruiting Beetlejuice (Keaton), a “bio-exorcist”, to scare away the Deetzes. Met with critical acclaim, “Beetlejuice” grossed $74 million in North America on a $15 million budget.
Talks of a sequel surfaced in 2013 when Keaton confirmed that he and Burton were talking about doing a sequel.
Ortega began her career as a child actress. She received recognition for her role as young Jane in The CW comedy-drama series "Jane the Virgin" (2014–2019). Her breakthrough role came in portraying Harley Diaz in the Disney Channel series "Stuck in the Middle" (2016–2018).
Ortega received critical praise for her performance in the teen drama movie "The Fallout" (2021), and went on to star in the 2022 horror movies "Scream 5" and "X".
She is currently reprising her role from last year's Scream as Tara Carpenter in "Scream VI".