After years of speculation and rumours, the Hocus Pocus sequel finally became really real back in December 2020, when, during one of its announcement-packed investor Days, Disney finally confirmed that it was on the way. And the first teaser trailer has been conjured online, featuring a brief appearance from the Sanderson sisters – played as ever with pure campy energy by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy.
It’s been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve.
From the looks of this first footage, it's the teens who unwittingly bring the sisters back – Whitney Peak’s Becca, Belissa Escobedo’s Izzy and Lilia Buckingham’s Cassie – after discovering the candle and lighting it as part of Becca’s birthday ritual, hoping to activate witchy powers and getting far more than they bargained for. They probably should have just stuck with movies.
The new film also stars Sam Richardson, Doug Jones (who reprises his role from the original as Billy Butcherson), Hannah Waddingham, Froyan Gutierrez and Tony Hale. Anne Fletcher is in the director’s chair, with the script by Jen D'Angelo.
Hocus Pocus 2 lands on Disney+ on 30 September.