Warning: Spoilers ahead for Beetlejuice 2!Beetlejuice 2 seemingly left the fates of Delores and Rory a mystery after a sandworm eats the duo, but that's not actually the case. Before Betelgeuse is sent back to the afterlife inBeetlejuice 2's ending, the "ghost with the most" helps defeat his vengeful ex-wife, Delores, and Lydia's manipulator, Rory. Lydia is supposed to marry Rory, who has been exploiting her and her ability to communicate with the dead since the pair met. Though Betelgeuse assists in ending that potential marriage, the wedding between him and Lydia is stalled when Delores arrives.
Beetlejuice 2's Italian flashback details more of Betelgeuse's background, including how he met, married, and killed Delores, a leader of soul-suckers. She is resurrected at the start of the sequel and hunts down her former lover for the duration of the movie. After Astrid uses the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, the teen manages to open a trap door in the church's floor, allowing the sandworm to pass into the realm. Betelgeuse uses his bullfighting skills to control the sandworm before getting the creature to eat Beetlejuice 2's new characters, Delores and Rory.
Beetlejuice 2's Handbook Revealed What Happened To Delores & Rory After They Were Eaten By The Sandworm
Rory Really Is Dead In The Beetlejuice Universe
Once Delores and Rory are eaten by the sandworm, Beetlejuice 2 doesn't dive deeper into their fate. Instead, Betelgeuse is relieved that he no longer needs to deal with his ex, while Lydia narrowly avoids marrying someone as sleazy as Rory. However, Tim Burton's sequel does reveal what happened to Delores and Rory. While Astrid is paging through the Handbook for the Recently Deceased at different points of the movie, she looks at the page on how to summon a sandworm. Not only does the book explain how to do so, which she follows for the movie's church scene, but the Handbook also reveals the fates of those eaten by a sandworm:
"Proceed with caution as Sandworms can be extremely dangerous, for both the Living and the Dead. If a Deceased Soul is eaten by a Sandworm, they will remain in the Afterlife. The same applies to the Living; they must live in the Afterlife as a million tiny particles."
While it can be assumed that Delores would have ended up back in the afterlife, the real question pointed to Rory, who is a member of the living before his encounter with the sandworm. Ending up dead in Beetlejuice's afterlife is one thing, but being forced to live in that realm as "a million tiny particles" is not the fate one could have predicted for a sandworm victim. Considering how awful he was to Lydia and the Deetz family in his manipulation and scheming, it's unlikely that anyone would become overwhelmed with guilt, even if they did know his true fate.
What Rory's Death Means For His Fate In The Afterlife (& Justin Theroux's Possible Beetlejuice 3 Return)
Rory's Arc Likely Came To An End In Beetlejuice 2
Considering how Beetlejuice 2 leaves questions unanswered regarding character fates, some may have hoped Justin Theroux's Rory could return in Beetlejuice 3 if the movie happens. With the Handbook's clarification, though, it seems unlikely that Rory can reappear if he's trapped in the afterlife as tiny floating particles rather than a ghost. The franchise may have ways to bring back Delia, Delores, and others from the afterlife alongside Betelgeuse, but another sequel would have to put another spin on Handbook rules for Theroux to reprise his role.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is the sequel to the original Tim Burton classic that starred Michael Keaton and Wynona Rider in a horror-comedy that involved ghosts trying to scare off new homebuyers from taking their house. The sequel brings back Michael Keaton as the hilarious and sleazy ghost with selfish intentions, now joined by Jenna Ortega in a new role.
Release Date September 6, 2024
Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Pictures
Writers Alfred Gough , Miles Millar , Mike Vukadinovich , Seth Grahame-Smith , Michael McDowell , Larry Wilson
CastMichael Keaton , Winona Ryder , Catherine O'Hara , Jenna Ortega , Justin Theroux , Willem Dafoe , Monica Bellucci , Arthur Conti , Nick Kellington , Santiago Cabrera , Burn Gorman , Danny DeVito , Sami Slimane , Amy Nuttall , Mark Heenehan , Charlie Hopkinson , Liv Spencer , Skylar Park , Matthew Lyons , Jane Leaney , David Ayres , Sophie Holland , Walles Hamonde
Custom Image by Yeider Chacon
English (US) ·