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With absolutely no shade toward Jenna Ortega, no one did 'goth movie queen' quite like Winona Ryder. Not only did Ryder pull off an iconic performance as Beetlejuice's Lydia Deetz, she returned to do it 36 years later in this year's sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. And apparently, Ryder was storing up the energy to resurrect the role onscreen the entire time - in fact, it was part of her negotiations to play Netflix's favorite mom - Joyce Byers of Stranger Things.

The story comes from Variety earlier this year, who reported on comments Ryder had made to Harper's Bazaar. In the interview, Ryder turned the clocks back to long before the Tim Burton-directed was even greenlit, the halcyon year of 2015 (remember how good we had it?). Ryder reports that, even before her first day of filming at Joyce Byers, she knew she wanted to reserve space to return as Lydia.

"At the time, Tim [Burton] and I were talking about the ‘Beetlejuice’ sequel, Ryder told her interviewer. "There have been moments over the last 15 years where we thought it was going to happen, but that’s the thing... it had to be perfect with everybody in order for it to happen. I remember at my first meeting with the Duffer Bros. I said, 'As long as if Beetlejuice 2 happens you’ll let me go do that.' They agreed. Luckily it worked out. That was my one condition."

Ryder is absolutely right in saying that the Beetlejuice sequel was a long time in fermenting. The first script for a possible followup to sequel to the 1988 classic that launched her career was complete by 1990, but then Batman Returns got in the way of those early efforts. Scriptwriter Seth Grahame-Smith was hired to write a sequel in 2011, but the project stalled for years, only officially beginning its filming (and seeing Ryder return to the role of Lydia) in 2023.

Almost a decade after Ryder made sure her Stranger Things schedule would allow it.

To the Duffer Brother's and Netflix's credit, they were good on their agreement. But the obviously commendable person here is Ryder, who not only stuck it out in her belief in Burton and Beetlejuice all those years, but continued doing so after she had landed another massive, million-dollar role. And that, fellow goths, is why we must continue to pay homage to her as our queen.

But then again, who knows? If Jenna Ortega is still making making time in her schedule to play Wednesday Addams in 2058, we might have to reconsider.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is streaming on Max now. Stranger Things season 5 will stream on Netflix in 2025.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we think you should check out horror aficionado Greg Silber's list of the best horror movies of all time. Or, if you've already seen those classics, check out our list of the most underrated horror movies from the past couple years. And if you've already seen all of those, Let us tell you what to look forward to (or dread) in Popverse's list of upcoming horror movies.