Cast
Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse, a ghastly "bio-exorcist" who desires to marry someone from the living world. Both Keaton and director Tim Burton opted to keep the character as malicious and politically incorrect as he was in the original film due to their love for that character trait.
Burton additionally provides the voice of a newborn version of the character.
Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz, the former gothic teenager who was almost forced to marry Betelgeuse, now mother of Astrid Deetz and hostess of a talk show called Ghost House. Ryder initially imagined her character would live as a spinster in the Maitland residence's attic, but appreciated the development of her character, particularly around her relationship with daughter Astrid.
Catherine O'Hara as Delia Deetz, Lydia's stepmother, Astrid's step-grandmother and Charles Deetz's widow, now the hostess of a real art show located in a SoHo gallery.
Jenna Ortega as Astrid Deetz, Lydia's teenage daughter and Delia's step-granddaughter.
Justin Theroux as Rory, a television producer and Lydia's ex-fiancé. He was inspired by the late Glenn Shadix's Otho Fenlock character from the original film. The writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar devised him as a character who everyone wanted to see getting his comeuppance, like Otho, and enjoying the idea of Lydia being in a weird codependent relationship which everyone sees that way, herself included. Gough and Millar wanted the audience to understand why Rory is with Lydia and that he was a "schmuck", but they felt that they needed to find Rory's humanity without him being a mere punchline. Once Theroux was cast and connected with the writers over Zoom, he provided Gough and Millar with ideas they incorporated.
Willem Dafoe as Wolf Jackson, a Netherworld detective who was a B movie action star in life before he was inadvertently killed by a live grenade.
Monica Bellucci as Delores LaFerve, Betelgeuse's ex-wife, who, in life, was a mysterious and soul-collecting occultist who poisoned Betelgeuse several centuries earlier during the Black Death before he fatally mutilated her with an axe in retaliation.
Arthur Conti as Jeremy Frazier, the ghost of a troubled teenager who murdered his parents and becomes Astrid's brief love interest.
Burn Gorman as Father Damien, a comically eloquent Irish priest in Winter River.
Santiago Cabrera as Richard, Astrid's late father and Lydia's ex-husband who was eaten alive by piranhas in the Amazon and is now employed at the Netherworld's civil service.
Nick Kellington as Bob, the anxious leader of Betelgeuse's shrunken-headed employees at the Netherworld's call centre whose soul is later drained by Delores.
Amy Nuttall as Jane Butterfield Jr., a local real estate agent and the daughter of the original film's Jane Butterfield Sr. character. She was previously portrayed by Rachel Mittelman in said film as a child.
Paul Warren as Tom, a bald and one-eyed member of Betelgeuse's shrunken-headed employees.
Mark Heenehan (physical) and Charlie Hopkinson (voice) as Charles Deetz, the Deetzes' late patriarch who recently died in a shark attack following an airplane crash in the Pacific Ocean that occurred during his return from a birdwatching trip and, as a result of this, is left without most of the upper half of his body in death. The character is depicted with the likeness of his original portrayer, Jeffrey Jones, through various means, including reused photographs and a stop motion sequence that describes the character's death. These circumstances were inspired by a nightmare of Burton's that detailed his own death.
Danny DeVito as a janitor in the Netherworld whose soul is drained by Delores during her introduction.
In addition, Jane Leaney and David Ayres portray Jeremy's parents and Georgina Beedle portrays Janet, Wolf Jackson's shot-dead secretary, who "keeps him real", while Filipe Cates portrays Vlad, a vampire-portraying young man whom Astrid marries in a dream Lydia has in the film's epilogue.
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