WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Beetlejuice 2 (2024)!Tim Burton opened Wednesday season 1 with a gory moment for Jenna Ortega’s titular character, which he subtly pays tribute to through a Beetlejuice Beetlejuice death. Ortega joining the cast of Beetlejuice 2 marked her second collaboration with Burton after Wednesday, on which he served as an executive producer and the director of the first four episodes. Considering Burton has since cited his experience on Wednesday as helping to rejuvenate his excitement for filmmaking and finally compelling him to make Beetlejuice 2, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many show connections can be found in his long-awaited sequel.

One of Beetlejuice 2’s greatest Easter egg callbacks to Wednesday season 1 isn’t centered on Jenna Ortega’s Astrid. Rather, it’s connected to Max Pemberton, an actor who only appeared in the opening sequence of Wednesday season 1, episode 1. In Wednesday, Pemberton portrayed Dalton, a student at Wednesday Addams’ public school who bullied Pugsly. In retaliation for tormenting her brother, Wednesday let loose two bags of piranhas into the pool during Dalton’s water polo practice, which brutally left him maimed and Wednesday expelled. Unexpectedly, Tim Burton includes a nod to this moment through Pemberton’s character in Beetlejuice 2.

Max Pemberton Was Killed By A Shark In Beetlejuice 2 After His Piranha Attack In Wednesday Season 1

Max Pemberton’s Characters Suffer Grim Fates In Tim Burton Projects

Charles Deetz's ghost sitting next to the surfer and hot dog eater in Beetlejuice 2's afterlife waiting room

Sadly, Max Pemberton’s characters don’t have much luck when it comes to water-based sports and aquatic life in Tim Burton horror projects. In Beetlejuice 2’s director’s commentary, Tim Burton confirmed that Wednesday’s Max Pemberton plays a surfer killed by a shark in Beetlejuice 2. Pemberton’s surfer can be spotted when Charles Deetz’s ghost first goes to the Neitherworld waiting room, as the two share a moment in which they recognize their similar deaths-by-shark-attack.
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Burton himself pointed out the irony of having Pemberton’s character suffer grave injuries from Wednesday’s piranha attack before casting him as a shark attack victim in Beetlejuice 2. It’s unclear if that casting connection was intentional, but Burton, who also makes a cameo himself as Baby Betelgeuse’s voice in Beetlejuice 2, joked that Pemberton getting attacked by a shark highlights “everybody moving up” in this spooky, fantastical world. At the very least, Pemberton’s Wednesday character survived the gory piranha incident.

Max Pemberton’s Beetlejuice 2 Role Increases The Sequel’s Major Wednesday Connections

Beetlejuice 2 & Wednesday’s Cast & Crew Share Plenty Of Overlap

Astrid (Jenna Ortega) looking at the model in the attic in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams looking shocked and battered in Wednesday season 1 Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice sitting between a ghost with a cat and a ghost with hotdogs in his mouth in the waiting room in Beetlejuice 2 Caroline Lawrie as Martha in Wednesday season 1 Max Pemberton as the surfer ghost sitting on the afterlife wiating room couch in Beetlejuice 2
Max Pemberton as Dalton screaming in a pool as piranhas attack him in Wednesday season 1Astrid (Jenna Ortega) looking at the model in the attic in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams looking shocked and battered in Wednesday season 1 Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice sitting between a ghost with a cat and a ghost with hotdogs in his mouth in the waiting room in Beetlejuice 2
Caroline Lawrie as Martha in Wednesday season 1 Max Pemberton as the surfer ghost sitting on the afterlife wiating room couch in Beetlejuice 2 Max Pemberton as Dalton screaming in a pool as piranhas attack him in Wednesday season 1

It’s long been established that Tim Burton often brings back the same actors across various projects and frequently works with many of the same crew members and department heads, and Beetlejuice 2 is no different. Plenty of familiar figures from Wednesday, in particular, reunited in Burton’s horror-comedy sequel alongside Wednesday Addams’ Jenna Ortega. In addition to Max Pemberton, Beetlejuice 2’s afterlife features Wednesday’s Martha actress Caroline Lawrie as the Dead Cat Lady. Behind the scenes, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Wednesday’s overlapping names also include writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, editor Jay Prychidny, costume designer Colleen Atwood, and composer Danny Elfman.