Bette Midler hopes the witches come back again for ‘Hocus Pocus 3’

It took almost 30 years for the Sanderson sisters to return to Salem in Hocus Pocus 2, but Winfred Sanderson herself Bette Midler is hoping that she and her fellow on-screen witches won’t take as long to torment the town’s kids once again for a potential third movie. Disney is on the cusp of releasing the much-anticipated sequel to the 1993 Halloween fixture, and Midler is making it known that she would be more than ready to hop back on her broomstick if the studio was interested.

As part of a major preview of the film, Midler came clean to Entertainment Weekly that she would love to turn Hocus Pocus into a full-blown franchise, revealing that this is a career ambition she has yet to tick off her bucket list. Not to mention how much everyone else would love to see more from Winifred, Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy). Midler said:

“I’d love to have a franchise — especially a character I love playing. If there was a third one, of course I’d sign on, but I don’t know how. I can’t imagine what the story would be, but I love Winifred, Sarah, Mary, and our relationship. It’s good for women. We stick together through hell and high water, but we do cause mayhem, and not many women cause that much mayhem!”

As Midler’s comments remind us, the Sandersons might have started out as villains but these days the bewitching trio are genuine icons, thanks to their extreme quotability, their attitude, and their dysfunctional sisterhood. The transformation from the sisters into heroes, at least in fans’ hearts, is something that will be reflected in HP2 as the recent trailer confirmed that we’ll find out all about the Sandersons’ origins, and it looks like they only turned to witchcraft after they were cast out by their village.

It’s worth pointing out, though, that there’s been no other chatter of a third film happening at this time, but who knows, that could well change after Hocus Pocus 2 arrives on Sept. 30 and no doubt becomes a big hit for Disney Plus. It all depends on if there’s a new story to tell, sure, but there’s a strong chance that the Mouse House will want to capitalize on the trio’s popularity by creating new spinoffs. Hocus Pocus Cinematic Universe, anyone?