Jeffrey Jones Doesn’t Return in Beetlejuice Sequel After His Controversy. Here’s How the Movie Includes His Character

The new sequel to the classic horror comedy Beetlejuice features a lot of familiar faces. Michael Keaton returns as the evil character, while Winona Ryder as the sympathetic ghost Lydia Dietz and Catherine O’Hara as his artistic stepmother Delia once again play major roles.

But Jeffrey Jones, who played Dietz’s patriarch Charles in director Tim Burton’s 1988 hit film, is noticeably absent from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (out now). The film finds clever ways to make Charles a major part of the story while avoiding the actor who originally played him — perhaps because of Jones’ legal troubles.

Jones, now 77, pleaded no contest in 2003 to charges of possession of child pornography for allegedly hiring a 14-year-old boy to take lewd photos. As Entertainment Weekly reported at the time, the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Amadeus star was sentenced to five years of probation, counseling, and lifelong sex offender registration.
In Florida in 2004 and then in California in 2010, Jones was arrested for failing to update his sex offender status. After pleading guilty to the latter charge, his sentence included hours of community service and additional years of probation, as reported by BBC News.

Burton and the Beetlejuice stars have not commented on Jones or his absence from the new film. However, the way Charles’ fate is handled in the highly anticipated sequel may speak for itself. (Plot details for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice follow!)

Charles’ wife, Delia, tells Lydia about his death early in the new film. Throughout his story, Burton uses stop-motion animation to explain the character’s fate: While traveling abroad on a bird-watching adventure, Charles ends up in the ocean after his plane crashes. A shark rips off his head and shoulders, resulting in his death. The Dietz family mourns their father at his funeral.

But since the world of Beetlejuice includes a satirical depiction of the bureaucratic afterlife, Charles doesn’t disappear from the story. In the underworld, a body with its head and shoulders severed wanders, gushing blood and making somewhat incoherent noises. Actor Les Jones provides the voice for what is ultimately one of many innovative designs Burton and his team have created for the recently deceased, all of whom bear the marks of their death.

Other stars Beetlejuice fans may want to see in the highly anticipated sequel include Glenn Shaddix as amateur paranormal expert Otto Fenlock and Sylvia Sidney as deceased social worker Juno. Sadly, they are among the actors who have passed away off-screen; Shaddix died in 2010 at the age of 58 while Sidney passed away in 1999 at the age of 88.

Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis did not return as Adam and Barbara Maitland—Harry Belafonte’s sweet love couple whose deaths in the original film marked our introduction to Burton’s underworld—because, as Lydia explains in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, they found a loophole that allowed the two men to move on for good.

In fact, as Davis, 68, told People magazine in 2022, including her two dead characters in the sequel would have been particularly challenging. “I feel like ghosts don’t age,” she noted. “How do they explain their age?”

Beetlejuice The Beetlejuice movie introduces new stars to the franchise, including Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Danny DeVito and Willem Dafoe. It’s in theaters now.