It’s official! Hocus Pocus is putting a spell on you for a third stretch!
While discussing upcoming live-action projects, Sean Bailey — president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production — told The New York Times in June 2023 that a third film is in development.
Though no further details regarding a release date and casting have been announced yet, many stars from the first two installments have expressed their desire to return. Some writers have even teased what Hocus Pocus 3 could be about.
“I’m hoping that we are able to explore every aspect of these stories and take these characters on a bunch of fun adventures,” Hocus Pocus 2 screenwriter Jen D’Angelo told Entertainment Weekly in October 2023. “3 is still very much in the early stages; we don’t really know what it is.”
D’Angelo continued, “I want to do right by the fans, and I definitely want to keep in mind what they want to see, but at the same time, I feel like movies can go slightly awry when they’re only catering to the fans and trying to check off a list, like, ‘We got this and this, so the fans should be happy.’ ”
The ending of the 2022 sequel — set almost 30 years after the events of the first film — ties things up in a nice little bow for the famous Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler as Winifred, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah and Kathy Najimy as Mary). However, an ending credits scene teases the potential for yet another wicked chapter.
Now that Hocus Pocus 3 has been confirmed, here’s everything the cast and creators have said about the upcoming movie (plus how the ending sets up the story).
(Warning: Spoilers for Hocus Pocus 2 ahead!)
What is the end credits scene in Hocus Pocus 2?
At the end of the film, the Sanderson sisters are defeated yet again with a little help from Becca (Whitney Peak), who is revealed to be a witch herself. After Winifred (Midler) completes a dark spell called Magicæ Maxima to make her the most powerful witch of all, she quickly learns that it comes with a huge cost: the lives of her sisters.
After her sisters turn to dust, Winifred pleads with Becca for help. As the new owner of Winifred’s spell book, Becca answers her request, performing a spell with her friends that reunites Winifred with her sisters in the afterlife.
As Becca and her newly minted coven walk down the street at the end of the film, delighted with their new magical abilities, they’re followed by a bird identical to the one into which Mother Witch (Hannah Waddingham) shapeshifted at the beginning of the film.
In addition to that moment, the end credits scene teases the Sanderson sisters’ possible return. Back in Gilbert’s Olde Salem Magic Shoppe, the proprietor’s black cat Cobweb is seen climbing onto one of the shelves in the store. As he perches himself next to a box, the camera zooms in on the label: “B.F. CANDLE #2,” insinuating there is another Black Flame Candle that could bring the sisters back again.
What has the cast said about returning for Hocus Pocus 3?
Before the third film was officially greenlit, the cast had already expressed interest in reprising their iconic roles.
During the Hocus Pocus 2 premiere in New York City, Parker teased that she would sign on for a third Hocus Pocus if Midler also joined the project. “Bette is already starting rumors,” she told Extra in 2022 of the sequel. “I hitch my wagon to her star. If she wants to do a third one … No one says no to the Divine Miss M.”
As for Najimy, she told PEOPLE that she’s adamant about the “never say never” mantra.
“It was fun, but it’s not nothing. It’s a lot, but who knows? Who knew that almost 30 years later we’d be doing this sequel?” she told PEOPLE, joking, “I think if we did it 30 years later again, well, there would be walkers and canes involved. The flying might just be a little one-foot blip off the ground.”
Since the announcement of Hocus Pocus 3, Midler has expressed her desire for the script to come together much faster than the last sequel’s.
“I think if they’re gonna, they oughta because time is not just marching, time is barrel-assing to the finish line,” Midler joked during a July 2024 interview on Busy Philipps‘ QVC+ talk show Busy This Week, per Entertainment Weekly. “Get us while we’re still breathing, I mean, God!”
That same month, the Divine Miss M told PEOPLE her ideas for Winifred’s future.
“Where I would like Winifred to go, hmm? Well, I think the Hamptons. Winifred in the Hamptons, I could go there. That would be fun,” she said. “I can only figure out locations. Paris, London or the Hamptons!”
What have the writers and producers said about Hocus Pocus 3?
In 2022, executive producer Adam Shankman applauded director Anne Fletcher’s depiction of Becca’s storyline in Hocus Pocus 2. He suggested that the discovery of her magical abilities could hint at future projects for the franchise.
“Anne, I think, handled that really, really beautifully,” Shankman told The Hollywood Reporter of Becca’s fantastical findings. “We went back and forth on how that was going to work … if it was going to work, forever, and Anne was just like, ‘This is what we’re going to do.’ And I think it’s great. And it creates a lot of excitement about potential spinoffs.”
D’Angelo told EW in 2023 that she was figuring out the Sanderson sisters’ next movies.
“We’re still in the story phase; we’re still working on it,” she said. “We’ve been working on some ideas, and it’s been fun to dive back into that world, and we have so many directions in which to go and so many new characters to explore.”
While no storylines have been finalized, D’Angelo teased that the second movie “only scratched the surface of Waddingham’s mother witch.”
What would Hocus Pocus 3 be about?
Following the sequel’s release, fans have been running wild with theories about what a potential third movie could entail. A popular theory is that it could revolve around the newly introduced character Mother Witch, who gifted the Sanderson sisters with her spell book when they were younger.
As she appears to be following Becca’s new coven at the end of the film (in bird form), some think that Mother Witch could become the big villain in a third movie — perhaps following Becca’s new coven rising to power and potentially seeking help from the Sanderson sisters to defeat Mother Witch.