Main characters
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice (also known as Betelgeuse) (Michael Keaton in the films, Stephen Ouimette in the animated series, [1] Alex Brightman in the Broadway musical and the Teen Titans Go! episode "Ghost With the Most", [2] [3] and Justin Collette in the US tour of the musical) is a mischievous ghost. He is the main antagonist of the movies and the main protagonist of the animated TV series. [4]
In the first film, we first see him reading the newspaper when he comes across a page of the Netherland welcoming Adam and Barbara Maitland after their deaths. He comments they look nice and stupid. He uses advertisements (such as flyers, business cards and a commercial) to get the Maitlands to hire him as a "bio-exorcist" to rid their house of the Deetz family, who had just moved in. They thought it was odd that the business card and flyers contained no address or phone number. The Maitlands consult Juno, their case worker, about him but she warns them to avoid Beetlejuice. Once they find he is indeed inside the model, they summon him when they learn that he can be summoned if his name is said 3 times in a row. They immediately regret their decision after meeting him and being repulsed by him. This opens the door for him to terrorize the Deetz family by manifesting into a giant snake before being stopped by the Maitlands who criticize him. He retorts he no longer wants to work with them and is interested in their daughter, Lydia Deetz, which again angers Barbara. He then goes to a brothel called The Inferno, much to the couple's disgust. Beetlejuice meets Lydia who admits she wishes to cross over to the Netherworld, which perplexes him and he even sympathizes with her reasons. He tries to trick her into summoning him by promising to help her get to the other side if she said his name 3 times, and plus charades with her to help her learn what his name is. However this is thwarted by the Maitlands. When the Maitlands begin ‘dying’ from Otho's senace and Lydia begs for his help, he agrees to help but asks she marry him so he can leave the Netherworld in exchange for his help. She agrees and summons him. He toys with Lydia's parents and their friends but saves the Maitlands, and dons himself and Lydia in wedding attire to make the marriage happen. Lydia protests but he silenced her and says her vows instead, and produces a wedding ring from a finger from a woman he reveals he had been married to previously but he insists that she meant nothing to him. However, the attempted forced marriage is thwarted by the Maitlands and Beetlejuice is swallowed by a Sandworm. In the end, Beetlejuice ends up in Neitherworld waiting room, where he is last in a long line. He steals the Witch Doctor's ticket by tricking him into thinking Elvis has entered the room, then makes a boastful remark. The Witch Doctor sprinkles some powder on Beetlejuice, which causes his head to shrink. However, Betelgeuse, with his higher voice on account of this, remarks this may look good for him.
In the animated series, Beetlejuice takes on the role of the protagonist and his womanizing nature is toned down for the young audience (although not removed). He's often referred to as "BJ" for short ("Beej" by Lydia on occasion). The residents of the Netherworld generally consider him to be an unwelcome pest. Unlike his movie counterpart, his powers seem to be limited to wordplay, needing a timely gag or pun to transform or use his power (e.g., he says something "bugs" him, he'll turn into an insect). His relationship with Lydia is different and they consider one another their best friend.
In the Broadway musical, Beetlejuice, unlike previous incarnations of the character, is a self-proclaimed demon from Hell and fully aware he is in a musical, breaking the 4th wall at every opportunity. It also revealed that his first name is Lawrence.
In the second film, set 36 years after the first film, Beetlejuice first appears at Lydia's supernatural show Ghost House between the crowd. He then appears at Astrid's school only to disappear when Astrid and Delia turn around. Lydia thinks these are just hallucinations due to her past trauma but it turns out Beetlejuice has a psychic connection to Lydia and this allows him to actually show up in the land of the living, albeit this seems to be limited. In his office, where he expanded his business of bio-exorcism, he keeps a picture of Lydia as a teenager (the only thing he was able to get of her) and stares at it as he spies on her. He's called by the afterlife detective Wolf Jackson that reveals to him that his ex-wife, Delores is back for revenge. Beetlejuice hides in his office and plans to have Bob disguised as himself to be bait for Delores. After finding out the Deetz family is coming back to Winter River for Charles's funeral after the latter's death, Beetlejuice decides to take the occasion to convince Lydia into marrying him again so he can be alive again and escape from Delores forever. Beetlejuice once again uses flyers and promos to gain Lydia's attention. When Lydia's sly boyfriend Rory thinks he's just a figment of Lydia's imagination, he says his name 3 times and it results in them being transported in the model, where Beetlejuice, disguised as a couple therapist, makes Lydia give ‘birth’ to a creepy Baby Beetlejuice and scares Rory into fainting after he said he was just a figment of his imagination. Lydia scolds him for stalking her, but he admits he wants to remarry her because she is the love of his life. However, Lydia says home 3 times bringing her and Rory out of the model but Beetlejuice appears to her, playing a guitar and singing Right Here Waiting for You, declaring his love for her. Later, after Astrid gets manipulated by Jeremy to swap souls, Lydia reluctantly summons Beetlejuice and asks him to help her save her daughter before she gets taken to the Soul Train, which would bring her to the Great Beyond forever. Beetlejuice agrees to help, but in return he wants her marry him. Lydia agrees but Beetlejuice makes sure this time she keeps her word by making her sign a contract and promising to make her happy with him. As they can't enter the usual way, he draws a bomb with chalk on the wall and lights it up, causing an explosion into his office. Because of the explosion Beetlejuice sets off the Code 699 alarm and security start looking for him and Lydia. Beetlejuice tells Bob to block the entrance but instead he lets the shrunken heads escape into the world of the living. Beetlejuice and Lydia go towards the door leading to the Soul Train station but he senses Delores is nearby so he tells her where to go and they split up. Delia, after realizing she is dead and reluctantly summons Beetlejuice to help her find her husband Charles. He agrees if she will help him find Lydia. As Jeremy is about to get his passport stamped to re-enter the living world, Beetlejuice is revealed to be the immigration officer and rejects his passport, sending Jeremy to Hell thus killing him again and giving Astrid her soul back. Helped by Delia, Beetlejuice crashes the pending wedding of Lydia and Rory. He warns Astrid to refrain from saying his name via his agreement with Lydia and asks Astrid to call him ‘Dad’. He then injects Rory with truth serum to admit he never loved Lydia and is only after her money, angering her and Beetlejuice provides her some of his powers to let her punch him. He gets rid of the social media influencers Rory invited, changes himself and Lydia into their original wedding attire, and begins a musical wedding ceremony along with surprising her with a giant wedding cake. They levitate as he sings to her and kisses her hand. The wedding is interrupted by Wolf whom he freezes to avoid arrest, and then Delores who, along with Rory, is eaten by a Sandworm. Astrid says the contract is null and void due to him illegally bringing Lydia into the afterlife by setting off the 699 alarm and turning the shrunken heads lose in the land of the living. Beetlejuice is left disappointed when Lydia summons him back to the afterlife. However, he continues to haunt her dreams, showing he won't give up on her.
Lydia Deetz
Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder in the films, Alyson Court in the animated series, Sophia Anne Caruso in the Broadway musical, [a] and Isabella Esler in the US tour of the musical) is the daughter of Charles Deetz and the stepdaughter of Delia Deetz. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
In the first film, Deetz is a 15-year-old gothic girl from New York City who has moved with her family to Winter River, Connecticut after her father decided to take a break from his real estate business and Delia needing a new inspiration for her art gallery. She takes a liking to the house and disapproves of Delia changing it into a gothic piece of art. She defines herself as strange and unusual, and quickly notices Adam and Barbara Maitlands in the attic window on moving day. She finds the Handbook for the Recently Deceased in the attic and is able to understand it. When the Maitlands failed to scare Delia and then were leaving her room, Lydia photographed them in the hall, thinking they were her parents playing a kinky game. The photos revealed nothing but the sheets and she realizes they were ghosts, and formally introduced themselves. They tell her of them being trapped in the house and we’re trying to scare the family out of the house. Lydia sympathizes with them and agrees to try to convince her parents the ghosts are real during dinner, helped by the Maitlands possessing the parents and guests into singing and dancing. However, they are excited and want to exploit the ghosts to the public. Beetlejuice manifests into a snake to terrorize the family and scares Lydia before the Maitlands summon him back into the town model. Lydia accuses the Maitlands of deceiving her and becomes more depressed than before. She writes a suicide letter and tries to leave it for the Maitlands when she finds Beetlejuice in the town model. They start talking and he asks her to help him get out, to which she replies she wants him, perplexing him. He offers to help her if she says his name 3 times and plays charades with her to help her learn his name. However the Maitlands stop her and comfort her that being dead doesn't make things better. When Otho steals the handbook to try and summon the ghosts through a senace, Lydia is not worried at first until they appear and begin decaying, as he had unintentionally performed an exorcism. Lydia goes to the model to ask for Beetlejuice to save them. He agrees if she agrees to marry him because, by marrying a living person, he can escape from the Netherworld for good. She agrees and summons him. He then dons himself and Lydia into wedding attire and tries force the wedding ceremony to go through despite her protests. The Maitlands stop the marriage when a Sandword devours Beetlejuice. In the aftermath, Lydia is adjusting well and is living happily with her parents and the Maitlands, who become secondary parental figures to her.
In the animated series, Lydia is Beetlejuice's best friend. She lives in the fictional New England town of Peaceful Pines with her mother Delia and her dad Charles. She owns a black cat named Percy. Lydia goes to Miss Shannon's School for Girls. Along with her schoolmates, she's friends with two girls named Bertha and Prudence. Lydia's rival is Claire Brewster, a beautiful, rich, pompous blonde who's always mean to her. Lydia's unlike other humans and, despite her beauty, she likes things scary and spooky, or "strange and unusual" in her own words. Possibly for this reason, she's the only human (at least in the show) who knows about Beetlejuice and the Neitherworld. She often goes there and back by memorizing a poem and saying his name 3 times, and she can also call him to her world and send him back in the same way. She also says a longer version of the incantation if she wants to enter the Neitherworld to visit BJ or when there's an emergency, sometimes. Because she's calmed and more logical of the duo, Lydia serves as the voice of reason to Beetlejuice, who adores her, and he would do anything to make her happy. Although the series includes a number of small callbacks to the film, the exact backstory of how she and Beetlejuice met, is never clearly revealed. The series begins, in "Critter Sitters," as the pair are about to celebrate their year anniversary, as her mom offers Lydia to babysit Arnlow until then. After she recites the poem, her window opens by itself with thunderclap in the sky, her room turns into a room of a medieval castle and her tablecloth becomes her poncho and turns red.
In the Broadway music, Lydia along with her father, Charles, and her stepmother, Delia (who is her assistant life coach), move to Winter River, Connecticut, just after Lydia lost her real mother, who is revealed to be named Emily in this version.
In the second film, set 36 years following the first film, Lydia found a loophole that allowed the Maitlands to leave their house and move on to the Great Beyond. She went on to marry a man named Richard and had a daughter named Astrid. However, the marriage fell apart and she became a widow after he died in a boating accident. This caused Astrid to resent Lydia and they became estranged. At a survivor's resort, she met a man named Rory and they began dating. She started a TV show entitled Ghost House with Lydia Deetz, that made her famous. [10] However, she began seeing visions of Beetlejuice and assumed they were hallucinations due to her past trauma. She was unaware that he was actually appearing to her due to their psychic connection. When she learns her father has died in an accident, she reunites with Delia and Astrid to return to Winter River for the funeral. During Charles’ wake, Rory proposes to a stunned Lydia who declines but is manipulated by Rory into accepting. [b] This further isolates her from Astrid who despises Rory. Lydia and Astrid attempt to bond over memories of Richard until Lydia finds a flyer of Beetlejuice and orders Astrid to never say his name. She starts to worry he is trying to force his way back into her life and grows irritated at Rory’s obsession with making their wedding a celebrity topic. Beetlejuice again tries to get her attention and she tells him to leave her alone, and reveals to Rory when the former tries to force her to marry him. Rory dismisses it as a figment of her imagination and summons Beetlejuice, causing them to end up in a therapist room in the model with Beetlejuice playing the therapist. He pulls pranks on them including having Lydia give ‘birth’ to a baby Beetlejuice. She criticizes him for stalking her and he says he wants to remarry her because she is the love of his life before she summons herself and Rory out of the model. She then sees Beetlejuice playing a guitar and singing a love to her as a declaration of his love for her, confusing her. She is ready to leave as soon as possible but Astrid made plans to visit a boy, Jeremy, on Halloween. Lydia takes her to his house and returns home, as Delia leaves to mourn at Charles’ grave. During a talk with the real estate agent, Little Jane Butterfield, Lydia learns Jeremy is a ghost who murdered his parents 23 years ago and goes to get Astrid but arrives too late as Astrid is tricked into entering the Netherworld. She reluctantly summons Beetlejuice and asks him to help her save her daughter. He agrees if she agrees to finally marry him. She agrees and he has her sign a marriage contract to ensure she can't back out of the deal. He then breaks them into the Netherworld and they head to the door leading to the Soul Train station but they split up when Beetlejuice senses Delores is nearby. Lydia finds Astrid in time but they end up on one of Saturn’s moons and are attacked by a Sandworm. They are saved by Richard and the three reconcile just as Jeremy is sent to Hell by Beetlejuice, saving Astrid. Lydia and Astrid return to the living world, and the latter apologizes for calling her mother a fraud. They arrive at the church where Rory is waiting for them but Beetlejuice and Delia are also waiting. Beetlejuice reveals Lydia agreed to the marriage in exchange for his help, and injects Rory with truth serum to reveal he never loved Lydia, thinks she is a fraud, and is only after her money. Aided by Beetlejuice, Lydia angrily punches Rory. She and Beetlejuice are then donned in their original wedding attire and what follows is a musical wedding ceremony, with everyone being possessed into singing and dancing. Beetlejuice surprises her with a giant wedding cake, sings to her, levitates with her and kisses her hand before Wolf arrives to arrest Beetlejuice who freezes Wolf. Delores also arrives but she and Rory are swallowed by a Sandworm, which doesn't bother Lydia. Lydia, Delia and Astrid attempt to leave when Beetlejuice reminds her of their agreement. Astrid says the deal is null and void because he illegally brought Lydia into the afterlife. Lydia says she would’ve given him a chance if he wasn't 600 years older, and banishes him back to the afterlife. Delia bids farewell to Lydia and Astrid, who embrace once alone. Lydia ends her TV show so she can spend more time with Astrid and they traveled the world together. However, she has a nightmare of Astrid giving birth to the baby Beetlejuice, and when she woke up, he was in bed with her, but she woke up again alone this time but hearing his laughter, confused on whether or not he was there.
Delia Deetz
Delia Deetz (known as Delia Schlimmer in the Broadway musical) (Catherine O'Hara in the films, Elizabeth Hanna in the animated series, Leslie Kritzer in the Broadway musical, and Kate Marilley in the US tour of the musical) [c] is the wife of Charles Deetz and stepmother of Lydia Deetz. [12]
In the first film, sometime after his first marriage ended in divorce, Charles married Delia, a struggling artist specializing in gothic style. While she and Charles would have a ambiguous marriage, she did not get along with her stepdaughter Lydia. Charles secretly purchases Adam and Barbara Maitland's residence after their deaths as an escape from life in New York, forcing the family to move from New Yor to Connecticut. Delia immediately hates the house and makes it a goal to remodel it to her taste, much to the horror of the Maitlands who are haunting the house. In a span of 3 months, she transforms the house into one of goth style and full of her artwork. The Maitlands try to scare the family out but Delia and Charles can not see them, though Lydia quickly finds out about them and agrees to help. Delia dismisses Lydia's photos of the ghosts as fake and is more focused on impressing her dinner guests. During the dinner, she gets annoyed when Lydia brings up the ghosts again until the Maitlands possesses the adults into singing and dancing to Day-O . This excites Delia and Charles who sees this as a way to gain fame and wealth via using the house as a haunted amusement park. However the Maitlands refuse to show themselves from the attic where they’ve been hiding. Beetlejuice then manifests into a snake to terrorize the family before being summoned away by the Maitlands. Otho convinces Charles and Delia to gather their guests once more for a séance to force the ghosts to appear. The Maitlands do appear but Otho has unintentionally performed an exorcism, causing them to decay and ‘die’, much to Delia's horror. Lydia summons Beetlejuice to save the Maitlands and, after doing to, greets Charles and Delia as Lydia had agreed to marry him in exchange for his help. With them as witnesses to the ceremony, he traps them with Delia's artwork. However they are freed when the Maitlands interfere and send him back to the afterlife. Delia and Charles then finally meet the Maitlands. Some months pass, during which the adults co exist in the house.
In the animated series, ike in the films, Delia is an eccentric sculptor and an artist. A running gag inspired by a joke in the movie has her show Charles Deetz a sculpture or other work of art she made and assumes he likes it after the work of art scares him. She also acts a lot like a stereotypical sweet, but overprotective mother, and wants her daughter to abandon her interests in scary, other-worldly things and focus on more "normal" things for a girl her age. She is also very sensitive, as shown when she adopted Beetlejuice (who at the time was stuck in the form of a dog whose name was Odeious) and was heartbroken when he ran away. Despite somewhat physically resembling Wilma Flintstone from The Flintstones , some of Delia's habits, such as her red hair, poor cooking skills and self-absorbed Yuppie personality, resemblance that of Married... with Children matriarch Peg Bundy. Oddly, Delia also seems to enjoy the Neitherworld. When the Deetzes travel there, she always has a good time. Notably, her bizarre art is also very popular among the ghosts of Neitherwords. The Monster across the street buys one of her sculptures, and she puts on an award-winning show at a Neitherworld museum.
In the Broadway musical, although her history in the musical compared to the films is mostly unknown, it was confirmed that Delia got a divorce with her ex-husband after cheating on her with another man and sailing away to Rome, Italy. After changing her last name to her maiden name, Schlimmer, she started dating widower Charles Deetz most likely after the funeral of Emily Deetz. Before this, she met her guru Otho Fenlock, most likely becoming a life-coach and a vegan shortly after.
In the second film, over the next 36 years since the first, Delia becomes famous as she continues her artwork; opening an art studio in New York and donating funds and art to schools. She informs Lydia of her father, Charles', death and spends majority of her time in the film in mourning. She continues her eccentric work, such as taking photo selfies of her screaming to portray the art of grief and covering the entire house in black cloth. She also makes preparations to sell the house, much to Astrid's dismay. When Rory proposes to Lydia at Charles' wake, she is very disappointed and against the wedding, as she senses Rory has no good intentions. Lydia confides in her ‘hallucinations’ of Beetlejuice and Delia tells her to take back control of her life. On Halloween, she meets with the real estate agent to sign papers to begin the selling of the house. She then goes to the cemetery to record another video next to her late husband's grave, using asps that were supposedly designed to remove fangs and toxins. However, they bit her in the carotid artery, killing her instantly. She then wakes up in the waiting room of the afterlife and is horrified to realize she is dead. The lady giving out the numbers brushes off her outbursts and Delia reluctantly summons Beetlejuice. She asks him to help her find Charles and he agrees if she helps him find Lydia. She and Beetlejuice appear at the church where Lydia and Rory's wedding was supposed to take place. Beetlejuice reveals the deal Lydia made with him to help save Astrid, in which Lydia agreed to marry him, much to Delia's disgust. Beetlejuice then takes Rory's place as the groom, and forced Delia, Astrid, Rory and the priest to sing and dance as he prepares to wed Lydia. However Astrid points out the marriage contract her mother signed is null and void due to him illegally bringing Lydia into the afterlife, allowing Lydia to send him back to the afterlife. Delia is taken by Wolf Jackson back to the afterlife where she reunites with Charles at the Soul Train station.
Charles Deetz
Charles Deetz (Jeffrey Jones in the first film, Charlie Hopkinson and Mark Heenhan in the second film, Roger Dunn in the animated series, Adam Dannheisser in the Broadway musical, and Jesse Sharp in the US tour of the musical) is the husband of Delia Deetz and the father of Lydia Deetz.
In the first film, Charles used to work in real estate in New York City before his nervous breakdown, which is why he and his family moved to "the sticks" in the first place. According to Lydia, Charles was married to Lydia's mother before he met Delia, though what happened to his first wife remains a mystery. Although Charles claims he just wants to relax and clip coupons (which he obviously does), he wants to his real estate career and begins plans to sell the entire town of Winter River, Conneticut. Though Charles acts too busy for his own family, he truly cares about them. He loves his wife, Delia (despite hating the way she "trashes the place" with her redecorating obsession), and is attentive to Lydia (even asking her opinion of the new house, promising her a darkroom for her photography and calls her "pumpkin"). While initially upset at the idea when Adam and Barbara Maitland summoned the snake (Beetlejuice in disguise) to attack him, Charles shows great concern when the séance-turned-exorcism causes the couple to decompose in front of him and tries to make Otho stop. Beetlejuice then appears and restrains Charles along with his wife, who are forced to watch Lydia being forcibly married to Beetlejuice. However, this is stopped by Barbara and Adam, who use a sandworm to send Beetlejuice back to the afterlife. Charles looks gratefully at the Maitlands for saving his daughter. In the end, Charles seems to accept the idea of living with ghosts, reading the book called The Living and the Dead and shares Adam's frustration that the book reads like stereo instructions. While Beetlejuice has been banished, Charles still has a lingering fear of him which is triggered when Delia shows him a sculpture of Beetlejuice in Snake form.
In the second film, set 36 years later, after summoning Lydia to her art exhibit, Delia breaks the news to her that Charles has passed on. He was on a vacation period to a bird watching trip. Lydia sent him some equipment as a gift which he was grateful for, and the trip itself went very well, but on his flight back, the Pacific Travel Airlines plane lost the left wing and fell from the sky, crashing into the ocean below and breaking in half in the process. Charles survived the crash, and attempted to float to safety alongside the other survivors who were standing on the remains of the back half of the plane, but as he swam toward them using the lost wing of the plane as a raft, an extremely large shark breached the surface of the ocean and ate the center of his torso out of his body, leaving his ghost to have no head or chest, but still have his legs, a stomach, shoulders and arms. He wandered the afterlife seemingly unaware of the fact that he didn't make it, at least initially. He visited an afterlife dry cleaner asking where he was and complaining of feeling severely lightheaded. Briefly, a picture of Charles can be seen at his funeral. Eventually, following the death of Delia, he would have a short moment with his remaining family before departing on the soul train to the great beyond with his beloved wife, wishing his family well. In the second film, which was character's final appearance due to the various controversies surrounding his actor Jeffrey Jones, the actors who respectively portrayed and voiced Charles, Mark Heenhan and Charlie Hopkinson, were miscredited as "Clive" in the film's credits. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Little Jane Butterfield
Little Jane Butterfield (Rachel Mittleman in the first film and Amy Nuttall in the second film) [17] is the daughter of realtor Jane Butterfield and the mother of Jane Butterfield III. In the second film, it is revealed that she got married and has a daughter who's named after her and her grandmother. Little Jane also has the same dress and the same hair as her mother.
Sandworms
Sandworms are minor antagonists of the movies and musical and are the primary antagonists of the animated series. They are giant worm aliens who reside on Titan, the largest of the 274 moons of Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system. Sandworms share similar design aspects to Beetlejuice, most notably the black and white stripes. The most prominent part of a sandworm is the second head residing inside the mouth of the "outer skin". The second head seems to act as the sandworm's main head, with it being used to express and to eat. The second head appears to use the outer one as a shield from sand when going under, as well as a second pair of eyes. Sandworms have the ability to see the undead and attempt to eat them. In the handbook, it's said that if a soul is eaten, they'll remain in the afterlife, but if a living is eaten, they have to live in the afterlife as "a million tiny particles".
In the first film, when Adam and Barbara Maitland died, when they returned to the house, Adam decided to walk back out the door, but the outside world began to change into a dark night on Titan. Adam heard a strange roaring noise and saw a coil sticking out of the ground, but Barbara pulled him back inside. Later, after the Deetzes move in, Barbara walked out of door and stumbled into Titan, quickly becoming lost. When she and Adam found each other, the growling noise became audible, and a sandworm popped out to eat them. Barbara hit it, causing it to shake its head for a moment, but then it moved as if to eat them again. Adam and Barbara quickly went back through the door, closing it for safety.During the wedding sequence late in the film, Beetlejuice sent Barbara back to Titan. Appearing visibly furious, Barbara rode a sandworm back into the house, causing it to crash through the ceiling and swallow Beetlejuice. Barbara then jumped off and it crashed through the floor.
In the animated series, the Sandworms look very different, appearing to be much larger in size, having only one head instead of two, but still having four eyes, having yellow teeth instead of white teeth, having multiple medium sized green fins on their backs instead of one large black fin and while their bodies and tounges still have the same striped pattern as in the movies, the colors are now light lavender and dark lavender instead of black and white, but still have yellow eyes and green lips. Like in the movies, the sandworms inhabit Saturn's largest moon, Titan, (referred to as Sandwormland) swimming through its sand dunes hunting for lost souls. The worst punishment for the inhabitants of the Netherworld is being fed to a sandworm. Sandworms are normally rarely seen, however they can spawn in the Netherworld from time to time, often times location that have sand, like a desert or golf sand pit or even a kid’s sand box. It is assumed that sandworms will only eat ghosts, however they can and are a danger to living beings like Lydia too, but in the episode, "Worm Welcome" after protecting a baby Sandworm, Lydia and Betelgeuse were treated like adopted parents to it, proving sandworms can be tamed.
In the second film, set 36 years later, after saving her daughter, Astrid Deetz, from the Soul Train, Lydia, along with Astrid, try to avoid the Afterlife Police when they try emergency exit doors, but they stumbled into a sandy location. When Lydia and Astrid see the planet Saturn in the sky, they discover that they’re on Titan. Suddenly the ground began to rumble and up from the ground came a sandworm. Lydia and Astrid ran for their lives as the sandworm chases after them. Lydia and Astrid were nearly done for by the sandworm, but they were saved by Richard, who is Lydia’s late husband and Astrid’s late father, just in time before the sandworm had a taste for them. Later at the end, during the wedding, Astrid uses the Handbook for the Recently Deceased as a guide to summon and unleash a sandworm into the church. Beeetlejuice deflects the sandworm like a matador, causing it to eat Delores and Rory whole.
Beetlejuice
The Maitlands
Adam Maitland
Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin in the film, Rob McClure in the Broadway musical, and Will Burton in the US tour of the musical) is the husband of Barbara Maitland. He owns and operates the Maitland Hardware Store in Winter River, Connecticut and he has no fear of spiders.
In the first film, Adam married Barbara and they moved into a large house in a small town called Winter River, Connecticut. Adam spends most of his time in the attic working on a giant model of the town. One morning, the couple was driving home from their hardware store when Barbara swerved to avoid hitting a dog, causing them to crash off a bridge and over into the water where they drowned. They both make it back home, unbeknowest to them that they are dead. Adam notices something is off, realizing he can't recall getting out of the water, and heads back to the bridge to retrace his steps. But as soon as he steps of the porch, he finds himself in a sandy desert planet with a monster looming. Barbara pulls him back onto the porch before the monster can devour him and states he's been gone for two hours, and in the time that he was gone, she's noticed there reflections don't appear in the living room mirror. She also points out a handbook on the table with the title Handbook for the Recently Deceased, and they realize they didn't survive the crash. Later, the couple are in their bedroom and Adam is sitting on the bed trying to read the handbook. Despite all the questions Barbara asks, Adam is unable to understand anything, stating it reads like stereo instructions. Adam spends the next few days working on his town model, while Barbara attempts to clean. When Barbara's cousin, Jane Butterfield, drives up to the house, Adam tries to get her attention, but Barbara points out that the handbook says the living can't see the dead. Adam says that since they’re dead, they shouldn't have much to worry about. Some time later, Adam and Barbara wake up to a loud noise and notice a family has moved into their house: Charles Deetz, his wife Delia, and his daughter Lydia. Adam and Barbara attempt to scare them away by Adam cutting off his head to look like a headless corpse, but while Delia and her interior designer, Otho, are looking around the house, they can’t see them. Adam notices that they are headed to the attic, and Adam locks it quickly so they can’t get in. Adam returns to Barbara and puts his head back on. Barbara doesn’t approve of the changes the Deetz family is making to the house and tries to leave. Adam follows her and they both end up on the desert planet as soon as they step off the porch. Adam frantically searches for Barbara and when he finds her, they are confronted by a giant sandworm. They retreat back into the house, realizing they are trapped. The Maitlands keep the attic locked and take refuge in it. When Adam is flipping through the handbook, a flyer falls out for Betelguese, the bio-exorcist, but no way to contact him. Barbara is looking out the window and sees Lydia noticing them, but Adam denies this. Lydia is given a skeleton key and tries to enter the attic, but Adam and Barbara hold the door. A commercial appears on the television for Betelguese, saying he can get rid of people living in your house. Adam realizes they need help, and returns to the handbook for emergencies. Following the instructions, he draws a door with chalk on the attic wall and knocks three times. The wall turns into a passageway and Adam and Barbara enter, giving Lydia a chance to unlock the attic door. They enter the Waiting Room and are told to go to the third door to their right after waiting for a while. They enter and are horrified to see it’s their house remodeled into gothic style. Juno meets with them and explains they are to haunt their house for 125 years and it’s their responsibility to get the family out by themselves. Juno also warns them to never approach Beetlejuice because he is a troublemaker and he can be brought back by saying his name 3 times. The Maitlands dress up in bed sheets to try and scare Charles and Delia but this fails. Lydia snaps photographs of them and realizes they are ghosts. Adam is surprised Lydia can see them and can understand the handbook. In the attic, they bond with Lydia and they ask her to help them scare her parents, and she agrees. However, Delia brushes off Lydia. Adam and Barbara notice Beetlejuice lurking around the model cemetery and curiously summon him, ending up in the model. They dig up his grave and Beetlejuice emerges, immediately sexually harassing Barbara and teasing Adam. Both regret summoning him and decide back out of working with him, and resolve to scare the Deetz family out themselves. During dinner, Charles, Delia and their guests are possessed into singing and dancing to Day-O. Adam and Barbara think they succeeded but the others are excited and try to force their way into the attic, and fail to notice the couple hiding. Beetlejuice manifests into a snake to terrorize them before being stopped by Barbara and Lydia accuses them of being involved. Beetlejuice berates Adam and Barbara for breaking their deal while they scold him for hurting Charles and scaring Lydia. They are summoned to the Netherworld where Juno scolds them for letting Beetlejuice and letting Otho get the handbook. She advises them to come up with a new trick to scare the family and they distort their faces. However, Barbara has second thoughts because she is fond of Lydia and Adam sympathizes with her. They return home to find Lydia about to summon Beetlejuice and stop her, and they comfort Lydia as she admits she wants to be dead with them. Otho summons the Maitlands via a senace who immediately begin decaying, as rather than a seance, Otho had performed an exorcism. Lydia goes to Beetlejuice to ask him to save them and he agrees if she agrees to marry him so he can leave the afterlife for good. She agrees and summons him, and he keeps his end of the bargain and saves the Maitlands. As he tries to force Lydia to marry him, Adam and Barbara interfere and save Lydia. Months later, Adam and Barbara become secondary parents to Lydia, and peacefully co exist with the Deetz family.
In the second film, at some point during the 36 years between the first and second films, Lydia found a loophole where it is revealed that Adam and Barbara’s 125 year sentence to haunt their house, allowing them to move on The Great Beyond. [18] [19] [20]
Barbara Maitland
Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis in the film, Kerry Butler in the Broadway musical, and Britney Coleman in the US tour of the musical) [d] is the wife of Adam Maitland and a ghost who haunts the home of the Deetzes.
In the first film, Barbara is married to Adam Maitland and they live in a big, nice house in Winter River, Conneticut. Her cousin, real estate agent Jane Butterfield, tries to force the couple to sell the house to a large family, as the couple is struggling with infertility. During their vacation time at home, they visit their hardware store and head back home but swerve to avoid hitting a dog. Causing their car to fall off the bridge and sink into the river, and they drown. They end up back home not remembering how. When Adam tries to leave and is gone for 2 hours due to having been teleported to one of Saturn's moons, Barbara finds the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and point to Adam their lack of reflection in the mirror, concluding they are dead. They find no answers from the handbook on what to do however. Soon after the Deetz family buys the house and begins renovating it to Delia's taste. The Maitlands try various ways to scare the family out of the house to no avail as the family can't see them. In frustration, Barbara tries to leave but gets teleported to Saturn and is nearly attacked by a Sandworm before Adam saves her. They decide to hide away in the attic. Their daughter, Lydia, is able to see them from the attic window. They see a ‘bio-exorcist’ commercial of Beetlejuice offering to help rid the family but they are confused on why his flyers and cards have no address or phone number. They decide to seek help from the afterlife and, following instructions from the handbook, draw a door and knock three times. They enter the waiting room to be seen by their case worker Juno. They are told to go through the third door and find it's their house having been completely renovated. They meet Juno who tells them they are to haunt their house for 125 years before crossing over. She also warns them to never reach out to Beetlejuice because of his dangerous antics and he can be summoned by calling his name 3 times. The Maitlands then dress themselves up in sheets to scare Charles and Delia to no avail. Lydia photographs them and realizes they are ghosts. They befriend one another and the Maitlands ask for her to help them scare her parents out of the house, and she agrees to help them. They later realize Beetlejuice is lurking inside Adam's model and curiously summon him, ending up in the model. They dig up his grave and Beetlejuice emerges, and immediately sexually harasses Barbara. They are troubled by him and Barbara says home 3 times which gets them out of the model. They decide to not work for Beetlejuice and scare the family out themselves. They use their new powers to possess Charles, Delia and their dinner guests into singing and dancing to Day-O, but this excites them rather than scare them. When Beetlejuice manifests into a snake to terrorize the family, Lydia accuses the Maitlands of being part of it. Barbara then scolds Beetlejuice for his actions and warns him to stay away from Lydia. She is then disgusted when Beetlejuice goes to a brothel. The Maitlands are summoned to the Netherworld and scolded by Juno for summoning Beetlejuice and letting Otho get the handbook. She tells them to come up with a new trick to scare the family and they distort their faces. However, Barbara has second thoughts because of her fondness for Lydia. They stop Lydia from summoning Beetlejuice. They comfort the girl when she admits she wants to be dead with them and they tell her being dead doesn't make things better. Otho uses the handbook to summon the Maitlands, who immediately begin decaying, as rather than a séance, he had performed an exorcism. Lydia goes to Beetlejuice to ask him to save them and he agrees if she agrees to marry him so he can escape the Netherworld. She agrees and Beetlejuice keeps his end of the bargain and saves the couple. Just he tries to force Lydia to marry him, the Maitlands interfere. Barbara is sent to Saturn's moon but she gets a Sandworm to enter the living world and devour Beetlejuice, saving Lydia from the forced marriage. Months later, Barbara and Adam become secondary parents to Lydia, and peacefully co exist with the Deetz family.
In the second film, at some point between the first and second films, Lydia found a loophole in the Maitlands 125-year sentence to haunt their house, allowing the couple to move on to the Great Beyond. [18] [19] [22]
Juno
Juno (known as Mrs. Shoggoth in the Broadway musical) (Sylvia Sidney in the film, Jill Abramovitz in the Broadway musical, and Karmine Alers in the US tour of the musical) is a afterlife case worker.
In the first film, she is an afterlife caseworker whom the Adam and Barbara Maitland go to for help in dealing with the afterlife and for assistance removing the Deetz's from their home. She had Beetlejuice as an assistant at one time until he decided to go "out on his own" as a "Freelance Bio-Exorcist" who claimed he could "get rid of the living". She warns the Maitlands not to summon Beetlejuice, but to scare the Deetzes out of their house themselves, because Betelgeuse "does not work well with others". She now uses the receptionist, Miss Argentina, as a new assistant. She was seen much later in the film, when she was dealing with the deaths of the football players. She scolds the Maitlands for leaving the Handbook for the Recently Deceased lying around, to which Lydia and Otho were able to get ahold of it, as well as ignoring her earlier warning not to associate with Beetlejuice. She is seen smoking and the smoke emitting from her neck. Since the laws of the Neitherworld stipulate that those whose deaths are classified as suicides get assigned to be civil servants, Juno's cause of death was that she slit her own throat.
In second film, Juno doesn't appear, due to her actress, Sylvia Sidney, passing away in 1999. It is revealed through Beetlejuice's newspaper that she is among the case workers currently on strike.
Miss Argentina
Miss Argentina (also known as The Receptionist and Miss Receptionist) (Patrice Martinez in the film, Leslie Kritzer in the Broadway musical, and Danielle Marie Gonzalez in the US tour of the musical) is a receptionist that appears at the window in the Afterlife waiting room. As shown in the first film, it appears that she committed suicide by slitting her wrists. She informs Adam and Barbara Maitlandthat the Afterlife is "very personal" (pointing out various individuals in the waiting room) and tells them, "if I knew then, what I know now, I wouldn't have had my 'little accident'". Her statement refers to not knowing until it was too late that Neitherworld law stipulates that those who die by suicide are assigned to work as bureaucrats. Sometime in the 36-year time span between the first and second films, Miss Argentina was replaced at her station by a deceased fast food employee with a similar appearance. It is unknown whether this is a permanent replacement, or the Afterlife's years-long version of a simple shift change.
In the second film, she does not appear due to her actress, Patrice Martinez, passing away in 2018. However, she's replaced by another receptionist (a Hot Dog Lady on a Stick) which implies that she joined Juno in the afterlife case worker's strike.
Otho Fenlock
Otho Fenlock (Glenn Shadix in the film, Kelvin Moon Loh in the Broadway musical, and Abe Goldfarb in the US tour ofthe musical) is Delia Deetz's former best friend. He's the secondary antagonist of the first film.
Before the events of the first film, he was schooled in chemistry and he was a hair analyst briefly. After his stint with the Living Theatre, Otho was one of New York City's leading paranormal researchers, until as he put it, "until the bottom dropped out in '72."
In the first film, Otho presents himself to be more successful than he actually is, often referring to past career failures as experience and success, though he seems to genuinely believe this despite the obvious. He seems to depend on the limelight for his own ego, Otho can commonly be seen pandering to those of higher status than himself to gain approval, and boost his own status, such as when he compliments art work of his employer. When Beetlejuice alters Otho's outfit into a summer suit, Otho is clearly mortified at the embarrassment, and runs away screaming.
Maxie Dean
Maxie Dean (Robert Goulet in the film, Danny Rutigliano in the Broadway musical, and Brian Vaughn in the US tour of the musical) is the chairman of Botco Industries.
In the first film, Maxie was the one who the Deetzes were hoping to cajole into financing their plan of turning the town into a supernatural tourist attraction. He and his wife, Sarah, were both last seen being sent flying through the roof of the Deetzes' living room by Beetlejuice.
In the second film, set 36 years later, during Charles' wake, it is revealed that Maxie Dean survived as he was listed and called out as a guest attending his former employee's funeral, despite his own actor, Robert Goulet, passing away in 2007.
Sarah Dean
Sarah Dean (known as Maxine Dean in the Broadway musical) (Maree Cheatham in the film, Jill Abramovitz in the Broadway musical, and Karmine Alers in the US tour of the musical) is the wife of Maxie Dean.
In the first film, Sarah and her husband, Maxie, went to the house of the Deetz family. They were both last seen being sent flying through the roof of the Deetzes' living room by Beetlejuice.
Jane Butterfield
Jane Butterfield (Annie McEnroe) is a realtor, cousin to Barbara Maitland, and cousin-in-law to Barbara's husband Adam Maitland.
In the first film, Jane is quite the pushy sort, insistent to the point of annoying the Maitlands. She says they should sell the house to a family with children, claiming it is too big for just two people. Although Barbara firmly told her not to, Jane had been showing pictures of the Maitlands' home to clients (specifically, customers in New York) long before it was officially for sale. She even stuck her face onto the window of Adam's basement workshop to ask him to sell the place, even though he said no. When the Maitlands died, she immediately sold the house to the Deetzes. In a deleted scene, Jane tried to call the Deetzes to sell the house (possibly for a bigger client), but Deetzes (living peacefully with the Maitlands' ghosts) flatly stated that they're keeping the house and that they'll never sell it, leaving Jane upset.
Animated series
Jacques LaLean
Jacques LaLean (Charles Kerr) is a skeleton body builder that really has a strong French accent. He is very persistent, since he continues to exercise despite only being a skeleton without muscles.
In the episode, "High's Ghoul Confidential", Jacques is shown to have gone to High School along with Beetlejuice and Ginger. He is shown to have buck teeth and a beanie hat. In the episode, "Journey to the Center of the Neitherworld", where Beetlejuice told a false story about how he and Jacques saved the writer Verne Jules in order to get out of housework, showed that Jacques used to be overweight, but became fit so it would be easier to catch up with Beetlejuice (though since the story was a lie, this may not be true). However, another episode (It's A Wonderful Afterlife) that showed what it would be like if Beetlejuice never existed depicted Jacques LaLean as having been overweight, so Beetlejuice's story may at least be partially true. Also, this reality showed Jacques having changed his name to Jacques LaLawn and having turned what would've been BJ's Roadhouse into a bistro. Jacques also once beat Armhold Musclehugger in the 400th annual Mr. Neitherworld Contest, becoming the New Mr. Neitherworld. He's also from some episodes, which includes "Bad Neighbor Beetlejuice" and "Raging Skull".
Ginger
Ginger (Tabitha St. Germain) is a tap-dancing spider in Neitherworld. She's frequently energetic and also very sensitive often cries when falling victim to Beetlejuice's mean pranks. She's good friends with Jacques LaLean. She's loosely based on legendary dancer Ginger Rogers, who's also an actress and a singer.
It is shown in the episode "High's Ghoul Confidential" that she went to high school along with Beetlejuice and Jacques, wearing a bouffant hairdo. Though she doesn't like Beetlejuice, she's one of many people that'll help him whenever he's in trouble, or in a time of need, notable in "Sore Feet". In an alternate reality shown in "It's A Wonderful Afterlife", it's shown that without Beetlejuice around to tamper with Ginger's auditions, she quickly became a famous dancer.
The Monster Across the Street
The Monster Across the Street (Len Carlson), as he is simply known as, is Beetlejuice's neighbor who lives across the street in a cattle-skull shaped house. He hails from the Neitherwest. He owns a dog named Poopsie. The Monster hates Beetlejuice for pulling pranks on him. The Monster loves to play music on his banjo, loudly. His father got lost at sea many years ago, and is found on a tiny island in the episode 'It's A Big, Big, Big, Big Ape'. The Monster has a nephew named the Little Monster From Around the Corner. The Monster currently has a girlfriend named the Monstress. He is often shown to have a bad temper, especially when he loses his patience from Beetlejuice's pranks. He has no known powers, other than strength, to the extent that he's sometimes shown able to chase off the dreaded Sandworms with ease. Other than Beetlejuice, The Monster mainly has a strong aversion towards Jesse Germs. Like most of the people in Beetlejuice's neighborhood, he also dislikes Goody Two Shoes, Lipscum, and Germs Pondscum. He is based on the Looney Tunes characters Gossamer and Yosemite Sam.
Doomie
Doomie (also known as the Dragster of Doom) (Keith Hampshire as Doomie and Colin Fox as the Dragster of Doom) is Beetlejuice's living car, as well as one of his and Lydia Deetz's best friends. Most of the time, Doomie appears to be a happy-go-lucky, loyal, good-natured car that is always ready for a good time. However, he suffers a split-personality disorder due to Beetlejuice giving him an abnormal carburetor when he and Lydia created him. Because of this, Doomie will sometimes turn into a werewolf-like car, which is usually incited when he sees dogs. After his transformation, he will chase the dog until his transformation wears off. He really cares about Beetlejuice and Lydia and will often try to warn him when he is about to make a risky or unwise decision. He's very much like a dog. As shown in the episode "Doomie's Romance", Doomie is a hopeless romantic. He falls in love with Pinky, a pink convertible belonging to Mayor Maynot, and becomes quite emotional in his efforts to woo her and help her become a sentient vehicle like himself. Other than his occasional transformation into a werewolf-car, Doomie also is able to fly and can drive himself. In "Brinkadoom", despite being severely damaged, he is able to summon the means to start his engine in order to save his 'parents' from being trapped in the eponymous vanishing town. The split personality, which was between Doomie and the Dragster of Doom, was based on Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Beetlejuice's family
Bea Juice
Bea Juice (Susan Roman) is the wife of Nat Juice, the mother of Beetlejuice and Donny Juice. She is a loving mother, who really loves and cares for her children, loves her husband, and is really nice to Lydia. She is a bit over-protective. She is also picky about clean hands and houses. Beetlejuice does love his mother, but he gets scared whenever she comes over to visit, because of her ways of telling him to take a bath.
Nat Juice
Nat Juice (Len Carlson) is the husband of Bea Juice, and the father of Beetlejuice and Donny Juice. A somewhat grumpy, but well-meaning, large Frankenstein-type man, he keeps telling B.J to "get a job" and is critical about him being unemployed, but it is mainly because he genuinely loves and cares about him, not that he is intentionally stubborn. Beetlejuice does love his dad as much as he loves him, though he gets annoyed when his father keeps telling him to get a job.
Donny Juice
Donald "Donny" Juice (Richard Binsley) is Beetlejuice's younger brother, son of Nat and Bea Juice. Donny is the favorite of family and friends and both brothers know it. He always has a smile and spare gift on hand for anyone he meets to the annoyance of Beetlejuice who rigs Donny's gifts with pranks (which backfires, as the receiver still enjoys the gift). Donny Juice is obliviously optimistic, brushing off Beetlejuice's insults and rude comments as jokes. Despite that, he cares deeply about other's opinions on him especially his brother's and admits he's aware his constant niceness drives the people around him crazy. He appears in the episodes "Oh, Brother!" and "Midnight Scum".
Bertha
Bertha (Tara Strong) is a friend of Lydia Deetz and Prudence in the real world. She is a tall girl with brown hair and buck teeth. Based on how she reacts to Betty (Beetlejuice in disguise), she seems to have a high tolerance to gross things.
Prudence
Prudence (Tabitha St. Germain) is a friend of Lydia Deetz in the real world. She and Bertha are two of Lydia's only close friends at school. She is a short, smart girl with orange hair and glasses, which she’s near-sighted without, and thus has a hard time seeing what's going on around her. She’s the quiet and shy member of Lydia's small group of friends. Prudence seems to scare easy, but usually gets over it quickly.
Claire Brewster
Claire Brewster (Tara Strong) is Lydia Deetz's arch-rival. Although Lydia faces worse enemies in the Neitherworld, Claire is arguably Lydia's biggest problem in the Otherworld. She constantly insults her and her friends Bertha and Prudence. The "spoiled rich kid" of Miss Shannon's School for Girls, Claire lives in a mansion with her parents and their servants. Beetlejuice hates the way she treats Lydia and punishes Claire by pulling cruel pranks on her. She appears as a "Valley Girl", speaks with a Valley Girl accent, is seen with blonde hair up in a "flip" hairdo, has very tanned skin (though she is Caucasian) and when not wearing her school uniform, she wears a frilly pink dress.
Despite being very beautiful, Claire is your typical spoiled rich princess. Being overindulged by her wealthy father, Claire believes everything should go her way, and because of Lydia's opposite ideals and thoughts from her own, they clash with each other, constantly; so much so that Claire feels that she hates Lydia with a passion, and swears to embarrass or outdo her at all costs. Always an egotistical narcissist, Claire believes she's the only person who matters, and therefore shouldn't have any remorse for how she treats people. And despite all the times Lydia and Beetlejuice (under Lydia's persuasion, of course) have saved her from danger, she still keeps her hostile and hateful personality towards the duo. While Lydia simply dislikes Claire, Beetlejuice outright despises her because of the way she treats his best friend. This more often than not has led Beetlejuice to punish/torture Claire in the most humiliating, comical, and disgusting ways he can find, usually when Claire gets her comeuppance its usually through Beetlejuice's machinations. Despite this, Lydia and Beetlejuice will (begrudgingly) come to Claire's aid when she's in genuine danger, such as when she was captured to be the trophy in the Neitherworld golf tournament. Ultimately despite her hostility, all Claire really wants is simply for Lydia to be "normal".
Scuzzo the Clown
Scuzzo the Clown (Joseph Sherman) is a Neitherworld clown that wants to make everything funny and prove himself the afterlife's best prankster, making him Beetlejuice's most persistent rival. He is Beetlejuice's arch-nemesis. Anyway, he sometimes works with his brother (Fuzzo the Clown), though he is the mastermind and leader of the two. Like Beetlejuice, he seems to share some of the same abilities as his rival, using similar ghostly and pun-based powers mostly centered around circus paraphernalia, mainly cannons and explosives. Unlike Beetlejuice though, Scuzzo is not as powerful, and his abilities are mostly limited to materializing objects or manipulating his own appearance or the appearance of others. His weaker powers force Scuzzo to rely on more devious tricks and careful planning in order to outwit Beetlejuice.
Scuzzo is a natural dead trickster and entertainer who revels in being in the spotlight, either by attracting audiences to his circus of horrors or by pulling all sorts of mischievous and diabolical pranks on the citizens of the Neitherworld in order to spread humor and disastrous havoc at the expense of others. Scuzzo's most defining trait is his annoyingly obnoxious attitude, always treating everything as a joke and laughing at almost any situation, especially when its at the expense of others, always acting like a delirious clown with no concern for anything beyond his own success. His skills in magic and as a prankster also make him incredibly arrogant, almost as arrogant as Beetlejuice himself, resulting in a fierce rivalry between the two ghosts who often seek to outprank or even destroy one another, a rivalry that goes back ages. Unlike Beetlejuice though, many in the Neitherworld are not as annoyed by Scuzzo, nor is he as reviled as his rival, due to Scuzzo often being outdone or defeated by Beetlejuice, as well as Scuzzo being clever enough to cover his tracks after successfully carrying out comically evil plots and pranks, usually pinning the blame on Beetlejuice, allowing Scuzzo to avoid prosecution by the Neitherworld Court. Scuzzo also has a reputation as a legitimate businessmonster, not only running his own circus, but also his own brief fast food business until it was destroyed by Beetlejuice, as well as a successful bookstore called Clown Books.
Mayor Maynot
Mayor Maynot (Len Carlson) is the mayor of the Neitherworld. He is always on Beetlejuice's case, and usually threatening to send him to Sandwormland. He has a quick temper and gets angry easy.
Unlike most characters in the series, Mayor Maynot got redesigned for the second season of the show. His two appearances in Season 1 show him as a short man with a green skin tone, with a large top hat. In Season 2 and onwards, he is instead a normal height man that wears yellow bandages. At first glance, he may be believed to be a mummy, but many occasions show his bandages to be meant to hide his invisible body. (Due to the several different Presidents with similar names are the odd ones, they might be two different split personalities of Mayor Maynot). Though it's possible they might be two separate characters, with the Season 2 redesign being the newly-elected.
Mr. Big
Mr. Big (Len Carlson) is a gangster who is ironically small, but is large in several angles. On of these angles is his own ego, as he had the nerve to call all the other villains Beetlejuice ever faced "pathetic". Mr. Big is also large on matters of business (on account he founded a group of villains known S.N.O.T.R.A.G.) and the brains to support it, as he was the one who figured out one thing, besides sandworms, that can destroy Beetlejuice: if he is dismembered too long (by sunset, apparently) BJ not only loses his powers, but also becomes so weak, he'd be reduced to a puddle... literally! While pointing this out to his fellow villains, however, Mr. Big winds up showing another oversized trained of his is his own stereotypical gangster lingo, and members of S.N.O.T.R.A.G. (Jesse Germs, especially) flip through the dictionary for words he uses like "work" and "kaplooey". In the end, it is revealed that the biggest, yet most vulnerable part of Mr. Big is his own shadow (it may be argued, but it's heard that he nicknames himself "The Shadow" when he said "If anyone knows, the shadow knows"). He prized it so much that when Lydia Deetz helps Beetlejuice get "back in circulation" (Mr. Big held onto Beetlejuice's heart) the ghost with the most defeats Mr. Big by shining a spotlight on him until his shadow disappears. Humiliated and humbled, Mr. Big runs away and Beetlejuice teases that gangster by saying he has stage fright!
Lipscum
Lipscum (Harvey Atkin) is a creature who obviously has the biggest mouth in the Neitherworld, not just liturally, but also because he is a bothersome chatterbox. In fact, everyone agrees he's the one citizen there who's more annoying than Beetlejuice. So why isn't he ever fed to the sandworms? Most likely it's a quality over quantity thing, as Beetlejuice annoys everyone with pranks, especially with his magic, as Lipscum is only a pest for talking too much. Sometimes Lipscum tries to help Beetlejuice with a prank or some other project, only to end up getting the zipper or the boot in the episode, "Smell-a-thon". Other times, he tries to join villians out to harm Beetlejuice, and uses videos of his failed attempts to befriend "the ghost with the most" to prove he belongs with them. He got in, but on the condition he shuts up!
Lipscum isn't the brightest member of S.N.O.T.R.A.G., as he is too dumb to unzip himself when someone zips his lip, not to mention he considers a black-and-white tv set an "even better" prize then an actual tv show. However, he seems smarter when it comes to verbal psychology, as he's the only one in the gangster group to put Mr. Big's words into broken English, and it seems he's the one to trick Beetlejuice into saying the right words to make his body come apart, for while the others tried charades, brainteaser puzzles, crud-in-the-ear blimps, and a fake gameshow, Lipscum uses a more direct approach and yells "Hey! Beetlejuice! I bet you can't say I am coming apart at the seams ten times real fast! Betcha can't! Betcha can't!" And then, Beetlejuice yells, "Oh! Go get an afterlife, Lipscum! I'd rather wear clean underwear then say something stupid like I'm coming apart at the seams!"
With that crude but effective final blow took effect, Lipscum deserved the first gloat by saying they've finally "de-feeted" (defeated) Beetlejuice (took the legs and used them as extentions for his TV antenna, but second only to Little Miss Warden with the head, Lipscum was the first one to loose the his... footing).
Jesse Germs
Jesse Germs (Dan Hennessy) is a skeleton cowboy. He is probably one of the smoothest characters around, second only to Chester Slime. He is a cigarrette poster-boy and one of those manly cowboy-types. He hires himself out to those needing someone to "eliminate" their adversaries. His is a pun on the legendary western bank robber Jesse James.
Bartholomew Batt
Bartholomew Batt (John Stocker) is a bat who was once a popular cartoon character, back when all toons were black-and-white (grayscale, in fact). However, things have changed, as no one ties damsels to traintracks anymore, and nyuk-ing villain-types such as Bartholomew have since fallen to the wayside. He is the one who doesn't know the meaning of defeat, and so he continues to strive to prove himself a worthy bad-guy once again.
Little Miss Warden
Little Miss Warden (Tara Strong) is a prison warden in Neither Neither land who likes things that are sickeningly sweet. Second next to Claire Brewster, she has a six-year-old spoiled brat persona, as it is not cute, being "Scrumdilly-iscious" if she wants it to be. Little Miss Warden is the only other character besides Beetlejuice himself to have a unique verbal summoning spell. However, while others must say Beetlejuice's name three times to summon him or be summoned to his location, others must say the three words "Higgledy Biggledy Pop" while clasping their hands in order to be summoned to Little Miss Warden's location.
As part of her obsession to cute-sify everything, Little Miss Warden "rehabilitates" naughty ghosts and ghouls into being cutesy, perfectly good versions of themselves by making them spend the night in the Jack-in-the-box, where Jack plays videos for good-behavior brainwashing!
She did this to Beetlejuice, turning him into Snugglejuice, and was so sure that his magic will make things cuter outside Neither-neither-land (where his once-gross self had no choice) that she trusted him with her transportation spell between Neither Neither Land and the Neitherworld. She says... "If you ever need us again for anything, just put your hands together and say the magic words, 'Higgledy Biggledy Pop!'" Of course, she wouldn't have told him if she had known he loved Lydia Deetz (who Miss Warden intended to brainwash into being a cute-and-cuddly girl by teaching her perfectly-good posture) to fight against the Snugglejuice Persona long enough to eat the Franken-beetle, the one insect more powerful then all the cuteness in Neither-neither Land, which restored Beetlejuice's true from and enough of his gross magic to turn the tables on her and give Little Miss Warden hair like Medusa for a short while.
Little Miss Warden once tried to lock Beetlejuice in the gingerbread house later on after his escape, but he did it again by revealing she's a "statue of limitations" when she fainted to BJ giving her the bride-of Frankenstein look.
As a member of S.N.O.T.R.A.G., after her brainteaser trick failed, Miss Warden took Beetlejuice's head and used it to demonstrate "proper dolly care" by putting makeup and a wig on him before using him as a replacement head for one of her old dolls, but once again, with Lydia's help, Beetlejuice escaped.
Prince Vince
Prince Vince (Hadley Kay) is the ruler of the Neitherworld who appears to suffer some kind of depression. His name is a parody of actor Vincent Price.
Prince Vince is a perpetually sad character whose depression can get so bad that rain clouds form in his general area. He often embraces tragic things from the works of Edgar Allan Poe to depressing films like The Crying Clown (a four hour film). Furthermore, he enjoys the smell of onion chips for the sake of inducing tears, and during his brief time as a rock star wrote a one hit wonder so depressing that it was torture to listen to. But in spite of all this, Prince Vince just wants to be loved for who he is, and genuinely does care about his subjects. Finally, he finds genuine moments of happiness, when he is with his friends.
When Prince Vince first met Lydia Deetz he was instantly smitten and desired to do anything to impress her. He goes to Beetlejuice for romantic advice, and takes her on a date. They end up going out again and the Prince even permits Lydia's other Neithworld friends to use his hall whenever they desire. Unfortunately, Lydia turns down his offer to "be (his) princess" as she only wanted to be friends. Prince Vince is devastated at this, but Lydia reassures him that all the fun and new friends doesn't have to end just because they aren't a couple. This makes him happy. During his time as The Prince of Rock and Roll, he goes to Lydia and Beetlejuice to test out his new music. Both friends hate the music, but Lydia insists on sparing Prince Vince's feelings and lying to him about their opinions. Lydia and Beetlejuice market his music to the whole Neitherworld and encourage the citizens to applaud the terrible music in order to spare to keep the prince from being depressed. She also encourages them to go to all his concerts, buy all his records, etc.
Barry MeNot
Barry MeNot is a character who appears in the CGI sequences in the series. He is the NTV (Neitherworld Television) personality who appears in various commercials that sometimes pop up to emphasize a particular plot point in a humorous aside. Unlike the rest of the show, Barry MeNot's vignettes are computer-generated animation. He almost never interacts with the rest of the characters. He appeared in some of the animated series episodes, including "Forget Me Nuts", "Worm Welcome" and "Wizard of Ooze". His name is a pun on the phrase "bury me not".
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
Astrid Deetz
Astrid Deetz (Jenna Ortega) is the daughter of Lydia and Richard Deetz and a main character of the second film. [23] [24] [25]
Astrid was born to Lydia and Richard Deetz roughly 16 years before the events of the second film. She seems to have had a good childhood with her parents and grandparents despite her mother's psychic abilities and Delia's eccentric tendencies; she describes her grandfather, Charles Deetz, as the most sane person of the family. She was very close with her father who took her on his journeys to promote climate change.
At some point her parents’ marriage fell apart and her father died in a biting accident on the Amazon River. Astrid would go on to blame Lydia for their separation and his death, as she believed her mother was faking about seeing ghosts, especially given she wasn't able to see Richard's. The two become further estranged when Lydia began dating Rory, whom Astrid despised, to the point Astrid avoided speaking to her mother.
When Charles dies in an accident, Astrid reunites with Lydia and Delia, who pick her up from boarding school to take her back to Winter River, Conneticut for the funeral. Astrid brushes off Lydia's attempts to bond with her and is disgusted when Rory proposes to Lydia at Charles’ wake. Disgusted, she bikes through town and crashes into a fence, and meets a teenage boy named Jeremy Frazier. The two talk and find they have a lot in common, and make plans to hang out the next day.
Astrid roams to the attic and finds Adam Maitland's town model, and then a box of family pictures of her and her parents. Lydia finds her there and they start to bond until Lydia finds a Beetlejuice flyer and angrily tells Astrid to never say his name, causing her to storm out of the house and go meet Jeremy. At his house, she finds the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and she reads some pages about Code 699 and Sandworms. The two then make plans to hang out on Halloween. Astrid tells Lydia of her plans when Lydia decides to leave following an encounter with Beetlejuice.
On Halloween night, Lydia drops Astrid off at Jeremy's. The two end up kissing but also levitate, Astrid realizing Jeremy is a ghost. She panics but he offers to help her find her father in the Netherworld if she agrees to help him come back to live. He draws a door on the wall and has her read an incantation from the book before they enter the Waiting Room and are then directed to Immigration. Jeremy reveals he tricked her into trading her life for his, thereby trapping her in the afterlife while he returns to the living world. She is taken to the Soul Train station and sees her father working as an immigration officer. Lydia, having been helped by Beetlejuice, finds Astrid and they end up walking into one of Saturn's moons and are attacked by a Sandworm. Richard saves them and the three reconcile before going back to Immigration to stop Jeremy. Beetlejuice, disguised as the immigration officer, rejects his passport and sends Jeremy to Hell, saving Astrid. Helped by Richard, Astrid and Lydia return to the living world.
Astrid apologizes to Lydia for not believing her. Lydia goes to the church to meet Rory for their wedding despite Astrid insisting she doesn't have to marry him. Inside the church, Beetlejuice and Delia are waiting for them. Astrid attempts to say his name before Beetlejuice stops her and asks her to call him ‘Dad’. Astrid is initially surprised when Rory, injected with truth serum, admits he is only after Lydia for her money but smiles when Lydia punches him. As Beetlejuice prepares to marry Lydia, he possesses Astrid, Delia, Rory and the priest to sing and dance until the ceremony is interrupted by Wolf Jackson and then Delores, who demands Beetlejuice's soul. Astrid finds the page on Sandworms and summons one, which devours Delores and Rory. The women attempt to leave as Beetlejuice reminds Lydia of their agreement. Astrid says the marriage contract is null and void because he violated Code 699 by bribing Lydia into the afterlife, allowing Lydia to send Beetlejuice back to the Netherworld. Lydia and Astrid bid farewell to Delia and then embrace each other.
Lydia ends her TV show to spend more time with Astrid. In a dream, Lydia dreams of them visiting Dracula's castle, Astrid getting married and giving birth to a baby Beetlejuice.
Richard Deetz
Richard Deetz (Santiago Cabrera) is the ex-husband of Lydia Deetz and father of her daughter, Astrid. [26] He is a pivotal character in the second film. [27]
In the second film, when he was still alive, Richard was a man in his late forties to early fifties with fair olive skin, black hair, and brown eyes. As a ghost, Richard's skin was now a gray color and covered in bite marks. He wore a brown jacker, a yellow dress shirt, brown pants, and shoes. He also had some piranhas sticking out in different parts of his body; one hanging on his ear, one down his throat, and a couple on his torso.
Delores LaFerve
Delores LaFerve (Monica Bellucci) is the leader of a soul-absorbing death cult who married Beetlejuice, whom she poisoned, but, in revenge, he killed her with an ax to her face. Turned into a ghost, Delores sought revenge against her ex-husband. She is the secondary antagonist of the second film.
In the first film, during his first failed attempt at a forced marriage with Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice revealed he had been married before, as he swore he would only get married once. He then removed the ring from a corpse finger and put it on Lydia, stating that "she meant nothing to him". This was the first clue to Delores' existence.
In the second film, Delores' dismembered pieces are revived in the Neitherworld when a janitor causes an electrical accident nearby. She reassembles herself with the help of an industrial stapler and devours the janitor's soul when he fails to tell her where Beetlejuice is. She then sucks the soul of a laundromat employee to steal a wedding dress, which she turns black. Detective Wolf Jackson deduces she is targeting Beetlejuice to force him to remarry her so she can take his soul. When he learns of her return, Beetlejuice hides in his office and plans to use his employee, Bob, as bait via disguising the Shrinker as himself.,Delores wanders around the Netherworld and reaches his office, though it's empty. She is delighted to find his picture on his desk but angrily smashes the picture of Lydia before resuming her search. She finds Bob in an interrogation room and demands to know where Beetlejuice is. When he refuses to say, she sucks his soul, killing him. She enters the living world and interrupts his wedding to Lydia, horrifying him and he tries rejecting her to no avail. He uses Rory as bait and this allows Astrid to summon a Sandworm which devours Delores and Rory. What exactly happens to Delores after this is currently unknown since Beetlejuice was previously eaten by a Sandworm in the first film and was just sent to the Neitherworld waiting room. It can be assumed something similar happened to Delores after she was eaten as Sandworms can't end a ghost's existence, just sending them away. Due to this, its heavily implied Delores could come back in a potential third film once again for revenge.
Wolf Jackson
Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) is the head of the Afterlife crimes unit. [28] Previously an actor, Wolf, after dying, became an officer in the Afterlife police unit to solve various crimes. He investigated against Delores and her ex-husband, Beetlejuice, who committed the crime of taking Lydia Deetz to the Neitherworld, although he respected Lydia and her family when she was able to defeat Delores.
In the second film, Wolf Jackson in life was a actor known for his role as a cop named Frank Hardballer. [29] All his acting roles were done at his behest to be as realistic as possible but he was killed when a live grenade was tossed at his head while making a movie scene. After becoming a ghost, he became the head of the Afterlife crimes unit and used his police acting tactics to run the unit, as well as having his assistant frequently remind him to keep things real. When Delores escapes captivity and goes on a killing spree, Wolf summons Beetlejuice to his office to question him about his association with Delores, which Beetlejuice denies. Wolf doesn't believe him and warns him to keep a low profile until Delores is captured. Wolf continues his investigation when he is informed Beetlejuice illegally brought Lydia Deetz into the afterlife, and orders a manhunt for him. Wolf and his officers follow Beetlejuice into the living world and burst into the church where Beetlejuice is about to marry Lydia. Beetlejuice freezes Wolf and the officers to avoid being arrested but they are freed when Lydia sends Beetlejuice back to the afterlife. Wolf warns Lydia and Astrid Deetz to never meddle with the afterlife unless it's their time to cross over and takes Delia Deetz with him so she can return to the afterlife and reunite with her husband, Charles.
Bob
Bob (1372–2024) is the lead shrinker who worked for Beetlejuice at the Afterlife call center. He was the only Shrinker who remained loyal to his boss when he allied himself with Lydia Deetz to save her daughter, Astrid, and covered for him while his ex-wife, Delores, hunted him. However, his soul was absorbed by Delores.
In the first film, his first scene is in the Waiting Room when Adam and Barbara Maitland arrive to see Juno, their case worker. He is later seen, still in the Waiting Room, when Beetlejuice sits next to him.
In the second film, over the next 36 years, Bob and several other shrinkers begin working for Beetlejuice in his bio-exorcism business. Bob becomes his most loyal employee and best friend, with Beetlejuice trusting Bob to take care of the business when he is away. When Delores escapes captivity and goes on a killing spree to find Beetlejuice and take his soul, Beetlejuice has Bob disguise himself as Beetlejuice so he can be bait. Beetlejuice also orders Bob to keep an eye on the others after he brings Lydia Deetz into the afterlife and goes to help her find her daughter, [[Astrid. However, the other shrinkers ignore Bob and escape into the living world. Bob is brought into the interrogation room at the Afterlife crime unit by Wolf Jackson, who demands Beetlejuice's wherabouts but Bob refuses to say. Delores later finds Bob and asks the same question but Bob again refuses to respond. She sucks out his soul, killing him.
Jeremy Frazier
Jeremy Damien Frazier (Arthur Conti) was a teenager in the 1990s and early 2000s that murdered his parents, then died when he fell out of his tree house and a major antagonist of the second film. [30] To return to life, Jeremy fell in love with and tricked Astrid Deetz so they could exchange lives in the Neitherworld, but was ultimately sent to the Fires of Damnation by Beetlejuice.
In the second film, Jeremy was a teen with family problems. Not that coming from a respected well-to-do family is a problem, but Jeremy loathed them all. In 2001, Jeremy murdered his dad and mom in the house, before going out to the tree house to try to escape the police. He fell from the tree house, landing on his neck, killing him. For the past 23 years, 5 months and 14 days, he would haunt his house and the tree house outside giving the house the name "Murder House", but was unable to go further beyond his home. The realtor, Little Jane Butterfield, found herself stuck with the house.
One day in late October, Astrid Deetz had busted in through a fence to his yard, coming to his tree house. Jeremy noticed that she thought he was living, so he befriended her as he had plans for her. He shares a passion for old literature when the two connect over liking Crime and Punishment . The two spent time hanging out. On Halloween night, he had invited her over. Astrid came to his room upstairs in the house. He decorated his room with decorations from the basement. His costume was James Dean, but he commented that his parents thought he looked more like Richie Cunningham from Happy Days .
Upon kissing Astrid, it was revealed that he was actually dead, when he levitated in the air. He made up and excuse for his death. He said that he used to steal his dad's beers and hide in the tree house and that one day after him and his dad got into a fight he slipped while doing this. He actually fell and broke his neck when the police tried to get him out of the tree house to arrest him. Jeremy explained he couldn't go farther than the tree outside. He showed her his Handbook for the Recently Deceased, explaining how everyone gets a copy after they die.
He had her join him in going to the afterlife, saying he found a way to be human again, but he needed the help of a living person. He said he'd lead her to her father Richard if she accompanied him. He had fooled her as he had her read an incantation that trading her living life for his that opened the door to the afterlife. He led her through the door and at the ticket booth his real intentions were revealed. Astrid was then taken away from him to the 8:35 train on the Soul Train.
Jeremy had believed that; he had outsmarted Astrid, telling her and her parents that they're too late. But Beetlejuice rejected his passport at immigration at Window 11, stamping it, with a stamp that said, "Shit Out of Luck!". He then pulled a lever that; opened a trapdoor to send him directly to the Fires of Damnation effectively sending him to Hell and ending his new life before it could even begin.
Rory
Rory (Justin Theroux) is a television star and ex-fiancé of Lydia Deetz and a secondary antagonist of the second film. [31] [32] He is a manager for "Ghost House with Lydia Deetz", who wanted to marry Lydia so he could exploit her for her money. He is a forty to fifty year old man with black hair tied in a small pony tail, brown eyes, and fair skin.
