Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice!
Though his absence was expected,Beetlejuice Beetlejuicerevealed Charles Deetz to have died between the first and second movies, and his death has a connection to Tim Burton’s real-life fears. Burton made it known prior to the sequel’s release that Charles would be dead heading into its story, a choice already expected due to actor Jeffrey Jones' prior arrest and registration as a sex offender in 2002.Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s storyreveals in a stop-motion sequence that Charles died when his plane crashed in the ocean and a shark bit him in half, with a stand-in playing his spirit in the Afterlife with an uncredited voice actor.
In honor of the sequel’s long-awaited release,Entertainment Weeklyinterviewed Gough for a spoiler-filledBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceinterview. In looking at Charles' death, the co-writer revealed thatit was directly inspired by one of Burton’s greatest fearsof seemingly surviving a plane crash, only to be swallowed up by a shark, to which he and co-writer Miles Millar found the idea to be “genius”. See Gough’s explanation below:
The way Charles dies in that animated piece is Tim’s nightmare of dying. He literally pitched that: “My nightmare is, I’m in a plane crash, I survive the plane crash, I almost drown, and then a shark eats me.” We were like, “Well, that’s genius. So that’s going to be how he dies.”
What The Inspiration For Charles’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Death Means
A Perfect Tim Burton Death
It’s been known since the first trailer forBeetlejuice Beetlejuicecame out that Charles would be deadin the sequel, but the scene is a reveal of fantastical proportions. Burton is the mind behindSweeney Todd,Dark Shadows,Big Eyes, andMiss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and as such, the filmmaker’s nightmare death scenario is expectedly specific and gruesome. Beyond just pulling from his own fears, the various spirits seen in both movies and Burton’s own past in stop-motion make Charles' death appropriately whimsical and in line with his sensibilities.
Our Take On The Inspiration For Charles’ Death in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Tim Burton’s Pitch Takes The Cake
Gough’s quote about Burton’s pitch for Charles' death is a delightful peek behind the screenwriting curtain. We can picture Gough and his longtime writing partner Millar, with whom Burton previously teamed forNetflix’sWednesday, scratching their heads, trying to come up with the best way for Charles to die, when Burton comes in with his real-life worst nightmare. Surviving a plane crash only to get bitten in half by a shark seems like a fitting death for Charles inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Cast
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
