Hocus Pocus 3 potential release date, cast and everything you need to know

Hocus Pocus 3 was officially confirmed by Disney in June 2023, but fans have had to feed off scraps since then. The threequel still hasn't started filming, so you'll have to make do with rewatching the first two movies this Halloween (they're both on Disney+). However, there has been a positive recent update.

In October 2025, Bette Midler revealed that she had seen a script for the third movie, although it doesn't sound like the final version. "A lot of it was brilliant, so I got very excited. Now, we're sort of trying to figure out what it is, where it's going to be and how much it's going to cost," she said.

With that hope renewed, here's everything you need to know about Hocus Pocus 3, including when we're likely to be able to see it and who's returning.

As mentioned above, Disney has confirmed Hocus Pocus 3, but we still don't have an official release date as of October 2025.

Hopefully, we won't have to wait another 29 years for a new Hocus Pocus movie, though. Midler might have seen a script, but it doesn't sound like they're close to actually filming a sequel, which means it's unlikely we'll see it next year.

Right now, it seems like our best hope for the earliest that Hocus Pocus 3 will be announced is Halloween 2027. It feels like ages ago, so we hope we're wrong and if – and it's a big if – filming starts later this year or early 2026, there's an outside chance we could see it next year.

The sequel filmed from October 2021 to January 2022, before being released on Disney+ in October 2022, so a similar timeline is possible, if unlikely at the moment.

Despite how the sequel ended (more on that in a bit), it's impossible to imagine Hocus Pocus 3 happening without Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy back as the Sanderson sisters.

They all seem keen to return, so it shouldn't be an issue, with Parker saying in July 2025: "No more developments [on the third movie], other than we would like to do it. We've been having some conversations [though]."

According to sequel star Whitney Peak, who was speaking to EW after the release of the sequel: "They can always come back. It would be hard to create a third movie without the Sanderson Sisters, because it's their movie. They are Hocus Pocus. It's hard to imagine what a movie would be like without them."

At the time of Hocus Pocus 2's release, one Sanderson sister, Bette Midler, hinted that she would consider a return.

Midler revealed: "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!"

If there is a third movie, Doug Jones' Billy Butcherson likely won't return. He went on to the afterlife when Winnie disappeared at the end of the movie – her curse finally broken.

Given there weren't any other deaths, any of the cast of Hocus Pocus 2 could return, including Whitney Peak as Becca, Belissa Escobedo as Izzy, Lilia Buckingham as Cassie, Sam Richardson, Tony Hale and others.

According to screenwriter Jen D'Angelo, Hannah Waddingham could have a bigger role in the next movie. "We've only scratched the surface of Hannah Waddingham's mother witch," she told EW in October 2023.

The young trio that led the sequel certainly seem keen for a return. "If there's a third, I want one of us to get corrupted by the power. I just know it would be Cassie," Buckingham told EW.

Peak, meanwhile, told Hollywood Life she was down for another movie. She even has an idea of how it would work.

"There was maybe potentially a second black flame candle [at the end of the movie], and somebody's going to have to light it," she said. "Maybe it's my turn to put some kids in their place."

More excitingly, the OG stars who weren't in Hocus Pocus 2 have told EW they'd be up for appearing in a third film. Jason Marsden, who voiced Binx the cat, said he would "absolutely" join the threequel.

Vanessa Shaw, who played Allison, likewise wanted to return, saying: "Yeah, it's such a fun story and, obviously, having us reminisce about this makes it that much more fun, and the fondness keeps growing."

Omri Katz, who played Max, added in June 2023 after the threequel was announced: "Yes, I would return if Disney approached me. It would be an honour to return, hopefully with some of my fellow castmates, and make a fun addition to the franchise!"

Behind the scenes, Hocus Pocus 2's director Anne Fletcher is returning for the new movie, according to TheWrap.

The second movie resurrects the Sisters thanks to Becca lighting the Black Flame candle in the woods with her friend Izzy.

While the candle was destroyed at the end of the movie, the post-credit scene reveals that there is another candle. We see Gilbert's (Richardson) cat bounding around the shop before coming to rest in front of a box with the label "BF #2 candle", implying a second one exists.

However, the wrinkle in this one is that the Sanderson sisters do not meet their end by falling victim to the curse that makes them disappear at sunrise on November 1. Instead, Mary and Sarah are victims of the spell that Winnie casts to grant herself total power.

Winnie asks Becca, a new witch, to cast a spell to reunite them. But instead of it bringing Mary and Sarah back, it sends Winnie on to wherever they are – presumably some kind of afterlife.

Whether another Black Flame candle can call them back from the afterlife remains to be seen, but it would certainly lessen the dramatic arc achieved in the sequel. We have to hope that the third movie will take a wholly new direction.

"It's an open-ended movie. So much could happen next. Both extremes, too," Peak told EW. "If there is a next movie, we could be our coven, much older, but the Sanderson Sisters could come back, and we'd have to kick their asses again."

Unfortunately not. We can't even summon any, as Hocus Pocus 3 hasn't started filming yet, even though it has been confirmed.

Hocus Pocus and Hocus Pocus 2 are available to watch now on Disney+.

Gabriella Geisinger

Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.

Mireia Mullor

Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London.    LinkedIn