The Sanderson sisters are back with Hocus Pocus 2. The sequel to the 1993 classic will bring back Bette Midler as Winnie, Sarah Jessica Parker as Sarah, and Kathy Najimy as Mary, who have been accidentally brought back to present-day Salem by three young girls: Becca, played by Whitney Peak, Cassie, played by Lilia Buckingham, and Izzy, played by Belissa Escobedo. In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the enchanting original trio along with director Anne Fletcher discussed the journey of bringing the Sanderson sisters back to life.

Midler revealed that Fletcher made it a collaborative process, saying, "You guys created these characters, you know how they talk and what they do or don't do." Then the notes given by the actors were incorporated into the script. But doing the script was the “hardest part” for the team. Parker explained it as “trying to figure out a story that everybody was excited about and that was familiar enough in tone to make sense, nod to the past, and pay tribute to a [the first film's] whimsy, ridiculousness, evilness, and wickedness.” Najimy further commended the team for taking suggestions, as “what the writer and studio came up with was difficult, because you can't take something that was so successful and stray too far from it.” She explained collaboratively they were able to come up with something “that's current and fun.” Further adding, “The first one had something delicious about it, but you also want to make something new.”

While the three witches stay true to their character, the world that they come back to isn’t the same. It has been twenty-nine years since they disappeared, and as seen in the trailer, modern-day Salem has changed. Midler explains, “It's become aware of the Sanderson Sisters. They play on that, so these three girls have been exposed to this their whole lives.” The three young girls who brought them back are byproducts of this new Salem and no victims at their mercy. Midler tells, “There are three young girls who are relatively new to the world. They're not witches, but they have the potential to become witches, to follow in our footsteps. Pitting the young against the veterans, it's a conflict that audiences like to see. Who's going to win? Or, is anybody going to win?”

hocus pocus 2
Image via Disney

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Fletcher builds on this contrast with the visual language of the movie, saying, "We give each girl not only the same color in the vein of our witches — Becca [Peak] being Winnie, Izzy [Escobedo] being Mary, and Cassie [Buckingham] being Sarah — and their hairstyles, in a way, are similar. It's a modern-day twist on it…At the end of the day, the movie is about sisterhood, it's about sticking together through thick and thin, and being there for one another."

Hocus Pocus 2 premieres September 30 on Disney+.