As Disney+ develops Hocus Pocus 3, Thora Birch, who played young Dani Dennison in the original 1993 film, says she would be interested in reprising the role.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actress answered a question about Dani’s return in the third installment, saying, “Well, I’d like to know how Dani ended and what conclusion they came to. I’m very open to that idea.”
Birch was 11 years old when Disney released the first “Hocus Pocus.” She played the youngest member of the central Dennison family, along with her on-screen siblings played by Omri Katz and Vinessa Shaw. Although the film did not perform well at the box office when it was released, it has since gained a strong fan following.
“When it first came out, it was a real shock. It was so shocking that all of us who loved making it were disappointed,” Birch recalls. Then 10 years later, they’re like, ‘Oh my god, are you that girl from Hocus Pocus?’ ‘It’s like that. ”
The film received the legacy sequel treatment with the release of Hocus Pocus 2 on Disney+ in 2022. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy reprized their roles as central antagonists from the previous film, but the original Dennison family ensemble was left out of the sequel. The film was a huge hit for the streamer, racking up 2.7 billion minutes of cumulative viewing during its opening weekend.
Maybe they’ll have a chance to come back in the third quel. Birch expressed interest in the idea, but acknowledged the prospect is open-ended, saying, “They like to talk about this, so we’ll see.”
Birch may get a call back from Salem sooner than he thinks. Midler recently appeared on Watch What Happens Live and said he read an early draft of the script and thought it was “great.”
“Well, they sent me scripts, and a lot of them were great,” she said. “So I got really excited, and now I’m trying to figure out what it is, where it’s going to be done, how much it’s going to cost, and all the other logistical things.”
