A newly released featurette takes us behind the scenes of Walt Disney Studios sequel, Hocus Pocus 2. Released courtesy of Walt Disney Studios, the backstage look offers several glimpses of new footage from the highly anticipated supernatural comedy, with original star and global icon Bette Midler revealing what it was like to return to the world of Hocus Pocus after several decades. You can check out the Hocus Pocus 2 featurette below.

“As soon as we walked on the set, the dynamic between the three of us was exactly the same as it was 30 years ago,” Midler says in the clip. “It’s as if these characters lived with for those 30 years.”

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“It was not a difficult transition to step back into those boots,” adds Kathy Najimy, with fellow star Sarah Jessica Parker saying, “It’s very special to be involved with something so meaningful in somebody’s life.”

The footage goes on to reveal further details of the origin of The Sanderson Sisters, an element that director Anne Fletcher has spent time considering in order to find a balance between the beloved Disney original and something new. “We wanted to weave in all of the people that the fans loved, and when you sat back with all the ingredients and story, you’re like, how do we make this work?” The filmmaker explained earlier this year. “It was very difficult to try to have them be a part of it, because we did talk about it – painstakingly. You’re trying to stay on track with story, even if they came in as a cameo.”

Hocus Pocus 2 Finds the Sanderson Sisters Resurrected in Salem After Nearly 30 Years

     Walt Disney Studios

Directed by Anne Fletcher, written by Jen D’Angelo and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Hocus Pocus 2 is a legacy sequel to 1993’s Hocus Pocus, which drops audiences in Salem, Massachusetts and finds a teenager named Max accidentally freeing a coven of evil witches.

It has now been 29 years since someone lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the 17th-century sisters, and they are looking for revenge. Now it is up to three high-school students to stop the ravenous witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on Salem before dawn on All Hallow’s Eve.

The first Hocus Pocus received mixed reviews upon release, but the Disney outing has since become a treasured childhood favorite for many, with the upcoming sequel expected to be a big hit when it lands on Disney+ at the end of this month.

The long, long-awaited sequel finds Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker reprising their roles as the trio of witches, Winifred “Winnie” Sanderson, Mary Sanderson, and Sarah Sanderson respectively, with original star Doug Jones also set to return as Billy Butcherson. The rest of the cast includes Whitney Peak (Gossip Girl), Lilia Buckingham (Dirt), Belisa Escobedo (American Horror Stories), Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), Tony Hale (Veep), Sam Richardson (The Tomorrow War, Good Boys), Juju Brener (Vanquish), Froy Gutierrez (Teen Wolf), Taylor Paige Henderson (Earwig and the Witch) and newcomer Nina Kitchen.

Hocus Pocus 2 is all set to debut on Disney+ on September 30, 2022.