Disney Is Reopening the Portal to ‘Halloweentown’ With a Brand-New Sequel in the Works
For a generation of fans, October simply isn’t complete without a trip back to ‘Halloweentown’. The beloved Disney Channel Original Movie first premiered in 1998, following young Marnie as she discovers on her 13th birthday that she comes from a line of powerful witches and is transported to a magical town where monsters live in harmony.
Directed by Duwayne Dunham, the film starred Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, Judith Hoag, and the legendary Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Aggie Cromwell. The original spawned 3 sequels: ‘Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge’ in 2001, ‘Halloweentown High’ in 2004, and ‘Return to Halloweentown’ in 2006.
That fourth entry became the fourth-highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movie at the time of its airing, but it also sparked controversy when Brown was replaced as Marnie by Sara Paxton. Since then, the franchise has been dormant for 2 decades, even as fans continued rewatching the films every Halloween season.
Now, the wait for more magic may finally be coming to an end. According to an exclusive report from TheWrap, a fifth ‘Halloweentown’ movie is in early development at Disney Channel and Disney+. Writers Lily Houghton and Ryan Koehn are developing the script, based on the characters created by Paul Bernbaum, who wrote the original film.
The news arrives just days after ‘Return to Halloweentown’ celebrated its 20th anniversary. No director, cast, or release window has been announced yet, and Disney hasn’t publicly confirmed the project beyond the report.
Both writers bring fresh genre credentials to the project. Houghton wrote the screenplay for the horror comedy ‘Forbidden Fruits’, which hit theaters earlier this year starring Lili Reinhart and Lola Tung, and also produced Netflix’s upcoming YA horror series ‘The Body’.
Koehn, meanwhile, served as a staff writer on the ‘Gossip Girl’ reboot from 2021 to 2023. His other writing credits include the thriller ‘The Mad Whale’, the comedic TV movie ‘Homeschooled’ and the crime drama ‘As Night Comes’.
20 years ago today, ‘return to halloweentown’ premiered on disney channel https://t.co/7HsXpRtrAB
— throwbacks (@solelynostalgia) October 19, 2026
The numbers make a strong case for a revival. The ‘Halloweentown’ franchise has racked up 160 million hours streamed on Disney+ globally, and the original film ranked among the top 10 most-watched Halloween movies on the platform last October.
A new installment would join Disney’s Halloween collection alongside favorites like ‘Hocus Pocus’, ‘Twitches’ and ‘Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas’. The biggest question for fans is who might come back. It’s not yet known whether original cast members will return, and Reynolds, who appeared in all 4 films, passed away in 2016.
Brown, however, has made her feelings clear. “I have told Disney I’m down. They know we’re all down to do another one,” she told PauseRewind at the Step Up Inspiration Awards in September. The actress has stayed closely connected to the franchise, regularly joining fan Q&As and the annual Halloweentown celebration in St. Helens, Oregon.
St. Helens, where the original film was shot, transforms into ‘Halloweentown’ every October. City Administrator Erik Finch told KOIN 6 that local leaders haven’t been in talks with Disney yet, but said the city would welcome a discussion about hosting a new film crew.
With the script still in early development, it may be a while before fans can step back through the portal. Still, after 20 years of waiting, the fact that Disney is actively working on a new story is a treat in itself.
What would you most like to see in the new Halloweentown sequel?
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