It took 29 years for the Sanderson sisters to rise from the dead a second time. But if you stuck around until the very end of Hocus Pocus 2, you know Disney already has a way to bring them back for round three.
And no, we’re not talking about another elaborate spell or a conveniently timed Halloween miracle. We’re talking about a box. A small wooden box sitting on a shelf in Gilbert’s magic shop, labeled “B.F. Candle #2.”
That’s right. There’s another Black Flame Candle.
It’s the kind of post-credits tease that might have seemed like a playful wink back in 2022. But now that Hocus Pocus 3 is officially in development, and Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are set to return, that little box suddenly looks a whole lot more important.
The Sanderson sisters are coming back. The only question is how. And their last movie may have already given us the answer.
Hocus Pocus 3 Is Happening, And The Original Witches Are Returning
First, the good news. We really are getting another Hocus Pocus.
Disney initially confirmed development of a third installment in 2023, but things became considerably more interesting in May 2026. Variety reported that Midler, Parker, and Najimy are returning as Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson.
Better yet, TheWrap reported that director Anne Fletcher and screenwriter Jen D’Angelo, who brought the sisters back in 2022, are also returning.
That’s encouraging news because, let’s face it, the Sanderson sisters are the franchise. You can invent all the magical artifacts, ancient curses, and Salem legends you want, but the reason people keep returning to these movies is the chemistry between those three actresses.
Midler’s Winifred is a spectacularly unpleasant creation, a vain, power-hungry witch who has somehow convinced herself she’s the smartest person in every room. Parker’s Sarah is delightfully clueless, while Najimy’s Mary spends much of her existence trying to keep up with the other two.
Separately, they’re funny characters. Together, they’re the reason a movie that underperformed in theaters in 1993 became a Halloween institution.
There is still plenty we don’t know about the third film, including its release date and whether Disney intends to send it to theaters or directly to Disney+. But Midler has already offered one particularly encouraging update.
Bette Midler Has Read A Hocus Pocus 3 Script, And She Likes It
During an October 2025 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Midler revealed that she had received a screenplay for the third film.
Her assessment? “A lot of it was brilliant.”
As Variety reported at the time, Midler said she was excited by what she’d read, although the filmmakers were still working through practical matters like location, logistics, and budget.
In other words, there was a story worth telling, but the movie wasn’t ready to start rolling cameras.
That distinction is important. A promising screenplay and returning cast members don’t tell us what the third movie will actually be about. But they do make the unanswered questions from Hocus Pocus 2 worth revisiting.
And there are two big ones.
Hocus Pocus 2 Actually Gave The Sanderson Sisters A Pretty Perfect Ending
One of the more surprising things about Hocus Pocus 2 is how seriously it takes the relationship between the Sanderson sisters.
Sure, the movie has musical numbers, flying household appliances, and Bette Midler chewing through scenery with the enthusiasm of someone who hasn’t eaten in 300 years. But underneath all that silliness, there’s a surprisingly touching story about three sisters who can’t imagine existing without one another.
In the climax, Winifred casts the forbidden Magicae Maxima spell, which promises to make her more powerful than ever. Unfortunately, the spell comes with a rather nasty catch: The caster must sacrifice whatever they love most.
Winifred discovers too late that the thing she loves most isn’t power. It’s Sarah and Mary.
Her sisters turn to dust, leaving Winifred devastated. And for perhaps the first time in either movie, the notoriously selfish witch doesn’t care about winning. She just wants her sisters back.
Becca, Izzy, and Cassie, the film’s teenage heroines, ultimately use their own magic to reunite Winifred with Sarah and Mary. The eldest Sanderson sister disappears, apparently joining her siblings beyond the living world.
Even Billy Butcherson finally gets to rest.
It’s a sweet ending, especially for a franchise about three child-eating witches. And if Hocus Pocus 2 had stopped there, you could reasonably argue that Winifred, Sarah, and Mary had received a fitting send-off.
But Disney had one more trick up its sleeve.
That Second Black Flame Candle Is A Pretty Big Deal
If you turned off Hocus Pocus 2 as soon as the credits started, you missed its most obvious sequel setup.
The post-credits scene takes us back to Gilbert’s magic shop, located inside the Sanderson sisters’ former home. His black cat, Cobweb, jumps onto a shelf where we see a box labeled “B.F. Candle #2.”
It’s a wonderfully simple reveal.
Remember, the Black Flame Candle is the reason the Sanderson sisters returned in both movies. Max Dennison lit one in the original film, accidentally resurrecting the witches. Nearly three decades later, Gilbert supplied another candle that brought them back once again.
And now we know there’s another one.
Of course, we don’t actually see anyone light this second candle. We don’t know whether Gilbert intends to use it, whether someone else will find it, or whether the third film will even acknowledge the scene.
But why bother showing us another Black Flame Candle if the filmmakers didn’t want audiences thinking about the possibility of another resurrection?
It’s practically a sequel waiting inside a box.
What’s particularly interesting is that the candle gives Hocus Pocus 3 a possible way to resurrect the sisters without undoing the emotional payoff of the previous movie. Winifred can genuinely have chosen her sisters over power, and the three witches can still be brought back through the supernatural rules established by the franchise.
The ending doesn’t necessarily have to be rewritten. Somebody just has to make a very bad decision with a candle.
But The Mother Witch Could Be An Even Bigger Clue
There’s another moment near the end of Hocus Pocus 2 that deserves some attention.
As Becca, Izzy, and Cassie walk away together, a bird flies overhead. It’s a familiar-looking creature, resembling the bird form associated with the mysterious Mother Witch played by Hannah Waddingham.
Introduced in the film’s opening flashback, the Mother Witch is the one who gives young Winifred Sanderson her magical spellbook. She effectively sets the entire franchise’s supernatural history into motion.
And while that final bird is never explicitly identified, its appearance seems like a deliberate reminder that there’s more to this magical world than the Sanderson sisters.
It’s also worth remembering that Becca discovers she’s a witch during the events of the sequel. By the end, she and her friends have formed a new coven, complete with their own connection to the spellbook.
As /Film previously noted in its examination of the sequel, the bird and post-credits candle leave several possibilities open for another installment.
Imagine a third movie in which the Sanderson sisters return, only to discover that Salem now has an entirely different coven to contend with. Or perhaps the Mother Witch comes back to reclaim the magic she helped unleash centuries earlier.
Those are possibilities, not confirmed storylines. Disney hasn’t revealed whether Waddingham or the sequel’s younger cast members will return.
Still, the pieces are sitting right there.
There’s Also The Question Of The Original Hocus Pocus Kids
Of course, there’s another reunion that longtime fans would probably love to see.
Whatever happened to Max, Dani, and Allison?
Omri Katz, Thora Birch, and Vinessa Shaw helped make the original Hocus Pocus memorable, and their absence from the second film was one of its more conspicuous omissions.
There would be something wonderfully satisfying about bringing those characters back as adults, particularly if they found themselves dealing with the Sanderson sisters one more time.
After all, Max knows better than just about anybody what happens when you light a Black Flame Candle.
It’s easy to imagine a story that unites the original characters with the new coven introduced in Hocus Pocus 2. It would give the third film a way to celebrate the entire franchise instead of simply repeating the structure of the previous installments.
But again, nothing has been confirmed regarding the return of Katz, Birch, or Shaw.
The Sanderson Sisters Have Become Too Popular To Stay Dead
Perhaps the strangest thing about the Hocus Pocus franchise is that it wasn’t supposed to become a franchise at all.
When the original film arrived in July 1993, it wasn’t exactly welcomed as a future Disney classic. Reviews were mixed, the box office was disappointing, and the decision to release a Halloween-themed comedy in the middle of summer certainly didn’t help.
But something happened over the following decades. Cable television broadcasts, home video, and annual Halloween viewings transformed Hocus Pocus into a movie people didn’t just remember. They made it a tradition.
That affection paid off when Hocus Pocus 2 premiered on Disney+ on September 30, 2022.
According to Disney’s official announcement, the sequel became the streaming service’s biggest domestic movie premiere at the time, measured by hours streamed during its first three days.
That’s an extraordinary second life for a movie that began as a box office disappointment.
Now, 33 years after their first appearance, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary Sanderson are preparing to run amok again.
We don’t know who will resurrect them. We don’t know whether the Mother Witch will return, whether Salem’s new coven will get another adventure, or whether the Dennison family will finally reenter the picture.
But one thing is certain: Disney didn’t end Hocus Pocus 2 by showing us another Black Flame Candle for no reason.
Somewhere in Salem, there’s a candle waiting to be lit.
And we all know what happens next.
