Sophia Michaels
A yearly treat for those who celebrate Halloween is the annual viewing of one of the best Disney+ movies available to stream: Hocus Pocus. This holiday icon has a fandom that, over the course of 30 years, has kept that film’s legacy alive in the limelight of cult classics that eventually got sequels. By the time that last year’s Hocus Pocus 2 finally landed, there were a ton of original characters who were revealed to have nearly gotten cameos, only to get cut from the film.
Writer Jen D’Angelo has recently revealed two more legacy figures who were left out of the fun, and my FOMO is killing me more than ever. As she spoke with EW in a recent interview, the writer connected to recent films like Totally Killer and the upcoming comedy Quiz Lady unveiled that dim-witted antagonists Jay (Tobias Jelinek) and Ice (Larry Bagby) were originally on the docket for Hocus Pocus 2.
Here’s how D’Angelo explained that draft, and why she wanted to resurrect those characters in particular:
There was also a version where Jay and Ice came back, because I have such a soft spot for them. I find them very emotional also. Even though they’re these cartoonish bullies, they’re sweet. They get a real punishment at the end: they’re locked in the cages for how long? They’ve been humbled.
Indeed, by the end of Hocus Pocus, we see Jay and Ice go from sneaker-stealing, toilet-papering ne’er-do-wells into softly singing songbirds braving the melody of “Row Row Your Boat.” A lot of things can happen when three witchy sisters return from the dead after centuries of slumber, and that’s exactly what Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy inspired in the world of this fictitious Salem.
So clearly one would think that this Disney+ subscription driver would have seen these goons still mindful of that night’s events, right? Let’s not forget that Thora Birch’s original Hocus Pocus 2 role was also crafted with a very fitting callback to the original film’s introduction to this world. Which leads to another twist of the tale that Jen D’Angelo would have included in her version of Jay and Ice, humbling these figures even further as follows:
One of the jokes that naturally had to fall out that I was so sad to lose was that Ice and Jay were handing out candy, and they saw the Sanderson Sisters fly past. You think they’re going to jump in and save the day, but they immediately run and hide because they’re cowards.
While Disney may have missed an opportunity with not releasing Hocus Pocus 2 in theaters, there’s still hope for the future. As we make our way towards Hocus Pocus 3, and with Jen D’Angelo still on board for that installment at the moment, there’s plenty of room to return to theaters.
Not to mention, just as Omri Katz would return for Max in a potential three-quel, you could bet that Vinessa Shaw and Thora Birch would also be game for such a resurgence. That, of course, begs for Tobias Jelinek and Larry Bagby’s heinously-humbled dudes to come back as well.
Hocus Pocus 2’s ending leaves a lot of room open for whatever happens next. With one specific tease standing out among the events that transpired, the sky’s the limit for another potential return of the Sanderson Sisters. If you haven’t watched the streaming sequel, or feel like revisiting it along with your annual viewing of the beloved original, both movies are currently available on Disney+.
