Omri Katz reveals why he and others weren’t part of ‘Hocus Pocus’ sequel

Omri Katz and other stars of the beloved 1993 movie ‘Hocus Pocus’ attended the second annual 90s Con in Connecticut on Saturday to speak about the film and why they weren’t included in the 2022 sequel, ‘Hocus Pocus 2′.

The original movie starred Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the Sanderson sisters, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary, who are killed during the Salem witch trials. The movie became a hit, eventually spawning a sequel last year that instantly topped Disney+ streaming charts when it was released, with the three actresses reprising their roles.

But many noticed that Katz and his other co-stars were absent from the new movie.

Long discussions and plot changes played a part

At the panel, Katz was joined by Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, and Jason Marsden, who all played the children who unintentionally bring the Sanderson sisters back to life, spawning the events of the first movie.

During the panel discussion, a fan asked why the actors weren’t involved in the recent sequel.

“We weren’t invited to that meeting. So we don’t really know why we weren’t invited,” Katz answered. “I think the fan base really wanted to see something with us. ... Yeah, I don’t know. It’s hard to really figure out the decisions that are made regarding what they want to do.”

Birch said that there had been discussions about bringing them on for the sequel, but that the discussions were long and kept changing as the movie plot changed.

“The desire [and] the concept of maybe doing [a sequel] was about 10 years,” the actress explained.

“But then there were numbers of different writers that came on board and different directors, and so the story and the concept and the direction in which they wanted to take, too, kept evolving and changing and growing.

“I do know that there were, along the way, some concepts and some ideas about ways to bring us back. And for whatever reason, it just didn’t work.”

The actress joked that ultimately, “what we like to say in the business: we had scheduling conflicts.”

Meanwhile, Marsden, who played the voice of Thackery Binx as a cat, said that David Kirschner, who wrote the screenplay for the sequel, wanted the three actors to play a role in ‘Hocus Pocus 2′.

“But there’s a committee. It’s a team. It’s an IP now — intellectual property. It’s close to your hearts, but it belongs to a committee now. And so it’s left up to them to make the right decisions,” he said.