WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Beetlejuice 2 (2024)!Among the most interesting new features Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is an afterlife call center full of dead people with their heads shrunken, but their status compared to Betelgeuse creates a mystery for Tim Burton’s sequel. Betelgeuse, Lydia Deetz, Delia Deetz, Charles Deetz and Little Jane Butterfield are the only returning original characters in Beetlejuice 2the sequel still pays homage to some of the missing characters from the 1988 horror-comedy. For example, Bob and the call center workers Beetlejuice 2 pay tribute to Harry the Hunterthe franchise’s first character with a shrunken head all the way to Betelgeuse was cursed with such a fate.
IN BeetlejuiceIn the original ending, protagonist Michael Keaton was sent back to the Netherworld’s waiting room, where he sat between the witch doctor and Harry the Hunter. After Betelgeuse tried to switch ticket numbers with a witch doctor, the deceased punished him by using magic to give Betelgeuse a shrunken head, suggesting that Harry had previously made a similar mistake. IN Beetlejuice 2, Betelgeuse’s head size somehow returned to its original statebut, strangely enough, he did not solve this problem for many employees working under him with the same difficulties.
Why did Betelgeuse’s head return to normal, but Bob and the other call center workers did not?
Betelgeuse found a cure but didn’t share it with Bob?
Considering that Betelgeuse somehow found a way to return its head to its original size after the 1988 film, this it is unclear why he did not decide to introduce this strategy to Bob and other employees Call center afterlife. Bob and the others are left with their heads small and their mouths sewn shut the whole time. Beetlejuice 2Moreover, Bob was able to utter a distressing cry only before his death, when his thread was cut off by Monica Bellucci’s heroine Delores.
Bob is portrayed by Nick Kellington in Beetlejuice 2.
It can be assumed that Betelgeuse was put in charge of the shrunken-headed afterlife population due to his experience as such, but the question remains as to why his head was fixed and theirs were not. On the other hand, Betelgeuse may have directly sought out those with shrunken heads in the afterlife to work for it. With their mouths sewn shut, Betelgeuse wouldn’t have to listen to Bob and his other employees, and he knew they would simply do their jobs and remain loyal to him. That’s why, Betelgeuse may have actively avoided returning them to their original state..
WITH Harry the Hunter doesn’t return Beetlejuice 2nor is there any indication whether he was also able to regenerate his shrunken head. Unfortunately, Bob was predeceased. Beetlejuice 2The other call center employees were last seen running around the real world with their heads shriveled, so the sequel doesn’t offer much hope for Betelgeuse’s co-workers to get their heads fixed. Considering how expansive the afterlife world has become in Beetlejuice 2 Compared to the 1988 film, it’s surprising that there was no mention of an official solution to the shrunken Deadhead problem.
‘Beetlejuice 2’ Never Revealed How Michael Keaton’s Shrunken Head Was Fixed
Did Betelgeuse have to use its own powers to grow a head?
One unanswered question after Beetlejuice focuses on how Michael Keaton’s character will return his head to its original size in the sequel. While the sequel may have started with Betelgeuse finally solving this problem after she received a call from the number in Nina’s waiting room, Beetlejuice 2 leaves this detail unattended. Rather, when Keaton returns, he looks exactly the same as he did for most of the 1988 film. It’s not even directly mentioned that he himself once had a shrunken head like Bob..
Considering that the 2024 sequel doesn’t reveal how Betelgeuse returned to its original head size, it’s all the more difficult to explain why. Beetlejuice 2The dead character of Bob and his colleagues has not changed either.
It was previously speculated that there might be a room in the afterlife specifically designed to grow the shrunken heads of the dead, or that Betelgeuse could simply use her powers to return her head to normal size.. The latter seems like the most likely answer, unless the witch doctor was forced to reverse the spell he cast on Betelgeuse shortly after the 1988 film. Considering that the 2024 sequel doesn’t reveal how Betelgeuse returned to its original head size, it’s all the more difficult to explain why. Beetlejuice 2The dead character of Bob and his colleagues has not changed either.
Bob’s shrunken head backstory raises another big unanswered question about Beetlejuice 2
How and why did Bob’s head shrink?
Despite the mysteries surrounding how Betelgeuse corrected its head size and why others have failed to correct its problem, Beetlejuice 2 leaves one more the unanswered question of how Bob got his shrunken head in the first place. BeetlejuiceThe 1988 ending revealed that Betelgeuse’s shriveled head occurred after it angered the witch doctor sitting next to him, who took revenge by sprinkling magic dust on the mischievous “bio-exorcist” Michael Keaton. So the question remains whether Bob received the shrunken head from the same medicine man, whether he suffered from this affliction all along, or perhaps received it from the powers of Betelgeuse.
Connected
Considering he can’t speak and only wears the standard Afterlife call center uniform or the iconic pinstriped Bethlegaze suit, Tim Burton’s sequel doesn’t give much information about the beloved new character’s backstory. It is unknown how exactly Bob died before. Beetlejuice 2but the end credits show that he was born in 1372 and (officially) died in 2024. the sad possibility that Bob had a shrunken head in the nearly 700 years he was deador that it happened to him sometime during the 36-year gap between Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and the original film.