Geena Davis was one of the biggest absentees in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but one major twist near the end of the movie perfectly honored her horror legacy with a reference to a 38-year-old movie. Joining the trend of long-awaited sequels is Beetlejuice, which finally got a continuation over 30 years after the first movie was released. Simply titled Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel has Tim Burton back as director, with Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles as Lydia, Beetlejuice, and Delia, respectively, and they are joined by new characters.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice sees Delia, Lydia, and the latter’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) returning to Winter River after Charles Deetz’s death. However, when Astrid is tricked into crossing into the Neitherworld, Lydia has no choice but to summon Beetlejuice for help. Beetlejuice agrees under the condition that Lydia finally marries him, which will not only break his curse but also keep him away from his vengeful ex-wife, Delores (Monica Bellucci). By the time of these events, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Davis) had already moved on, but Beetlejuice 2 still found a way to honor Geena Davis.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Birth Scene Referenced Geena Davis In The Fly

Geena Davis Went Through A Similar Nightmare In The Fly

The Fly Ronnie at the operating room
The Fly Ronnie giving birth The Fly a shocked nurse The Fly the giant maggot Ronnie gives birth to The Fly Ronnie scared on her bed
The Fly Ronnie at the operating room The Fly Ronnie giving birth The Fly a shocked nurse The Fly the giant maggot Ronnie gives birth to The Fly Ronnie scared on her bed

Geena Davis wasn’t a newcomer by the time she was cast in Beetlejuice, and her most notable project at the time was the 1986 sci-fi body horror movie The Fly. Directed by David Cronenberg and based on the 1957 short story of the same name by George Langelaan, The Fly tells the story of Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum), an eccentric scientist working on a machine that will allow instantaneous teleportation between two pods. Seth meets Ronnie Quaife (Davis), a science journalist who helps Seth keep a record of his new invention. Soon, Seth and Ronnie begin a relationship.

However, when Seth tries to teleport himself, unaware that a housefly is inside the pod with him, he accidentally fuses himself with the fly at the molecular-genetic level. This causes him to gradually turn into a fly monster creature, and though Ronnie initially can’t bring herself to kill him, the Seth/fly creature silently begs her to end his suffering. To make it all more tragic, Ronnie is pregnant with Seth’s child, and before she tries to get an abortion, she has a nightmare about their child.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t have Geena Davis back, but one scene near the end of the movie references Ronnie’s nightmare in The Fly .

In it, Ronnie gives birth to a giant maggot, much to her, the doctors’, and her ex-boyfriend’s horror. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t have Geena Davis back, but one scene near the end of the movie references Ronnie’s nightmare in The Fly. At the end of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Lydia travels to Dracula’s Castle with Astrid, where the latter meets a young man named Vlad.

Astrid and Vlad get married and Astrid gives birth to her first child… who turns out to be the monstrous Beetlejuice baby from earlier. The sequence is revealed to be Lydia’s nightmare, and it’s reminiscent of Ronnie’s maggot one – except Astrid is happy when she sees her strange child.

Why Geena Davis Wasn’t In Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Geena Davis & Alec Baldwin Were Beetlejuice 2’s Biggest Absentees

Beetlejuice Alec Baldwin as Adam and Geena Davis as Barbara Maitland

Before Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was released, there was a lot of speculation about why Davis and Baldwin didn’t return as Barbara and Adam Maitland. From a practical point of view, the Maitlands weren’t supposed to age, so bringing Davis and Baldwin back would have required de-aging them somehow. However, Tim Burton’s reasons for not including the Maitlands in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice were more about the story.

Speaking to People, Burton explained that he didn’t want to simply “tick boxes”, and though the Maitlands were a key part of Beetlejuice, the focus of the sequel was on something else. Burton shared that the core of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the three generations of Deetz women, so there wasn’t a place for the Maitlands anymore.

How Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Honors The Maitlands

Beetlejuice 2 Didn’t Forget About The Maitlands

Astrid (Jenna Ortega) looking at the model in the attic in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The Maitlands don’t appear in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but the movie doesn’t forget about them. Lydia explains that they found a loophole in the clause that forced them to stay in their house for 125 years and finally moved on, but Adam’s town model is still in the attic. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s opening scene has a subtle Easter egg to honor de Maitlands, as the camera flies through the model of the town and Adam and Barbara’s figures can be seen in it with a model of their car in the river.

This also confirmed that the Maitlands stayed with the Deetzes for a while, and their relationship with Lydia was key to her building her career as a medium and host of her own supernatural talk show. As beloved as the Maitlands were, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice didn’t need them, and they were given a good ending.