Hocus Pocus 2.Photo:Matt Kennedy/Disney

Matt Kennedy/Disney
Hocus Pocus 3’s screenwriter is teasing what could be in store for the next sequel.
Jen D’Angelo — who also wrote last year’sHocus Pocus2, which made for Disney+‘slargest movie debutat the time of its release — toldEntertainment Weekly"anything’s on the table" for the next installment.
“We’re still in the story phase, we’re still working on it,” said D’Angelo, who’s back to work on the project after the end of the writers’ strike. Disneyconfirmed the third entry was in developmentback in June.
“We’ve been working on some ideas, and it’s been fun to dive back into that world, and we have so many directions in which to go and so many new characters to explore,” D’Angelo said.
While D’Angelo said no storylines have been set in stone, she teased that the second movie “only scratched the surface ofHannah Waddingham’s mother witch” character.
Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler, and Sarah Jessica Parker in ‘Hocus Pocus’.AJ Pics / Alamy

AJ Pics / Alamy
Waddingham, 49, is featured inHocus Pocus 2during a prologue scene set when the witchy Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler,Kathy NajimyandSarah Jessica Parker) are children. D’Angelo confirmed toEWthat Waddingham’s character is the same character the sisters refer to as “mother” throughout the original 1993 movie.
“I believe that she’s that mother, that she is the scorpion pie mother, and that they had a much more significant relationship with her than we’ve yet to see,” she said. “But, maybe we will see.”
“I’m hoping that we are able to explore every aspect of these stories and take these characters on a bunch of fun adventures.3is still very much in the early stages, we don’t really know what it is,” D’Angelo added.
D’angelo added she is considering what fans of the franchise would want out of a future movie.
She added, “In reality, you want to make sure that the movie is solid on its own, and the fan service moments are baked into the story and that they’re satisfying and not just tacked on.”
Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler, and Sarah Jessica Parker in ‘Hocus Pocus’.Disney

Disney
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Disney did not confirm any casting details or release date forHocus Pocus 3when Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, gave the news toThe New York Timesin June.
Midler, Najimy and Parker have expressed interest in returning for a third film, and actors from the original filmOmri Katz(Max),Thora Birch(Dani) andVinessa Shaw(Allison) who did not return for the sequel have also expressed interest.
“We tried so hard to get the original cast back for cameos and then it just kept not working out for one reason or the other," D’Angelo previously toldVarietyin September 2022. “But I’m hoping inHocus Pocus 3,we’ll see Max and Alison living in California.”
D’Angelo also recently wrote another Halloween-themed comedy starringKiernan Shipka, titledTotally Killer,as well as the newAwkwafinaandSandra OhcomedyQuiz Lady.
source: people.com