Lydia Deetz (Beetlejuice)

Lydia Deetz is the tritagonist of 's 1988 film and one of the two main protagonists (alongside Beetlejuice) of its 2024 sequel .
She is portrayed by , who also played Kim Boggs in Edward Scissorhands and Elsa Van Helsing in Frankenweenie, both films directed by Tim Burton, Veronica Sawyer in Heathers, Mina Harker in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Allison Taylor in The Simpsons, and Joyce Byers in Stranger Things.
==Appearance==
Lydia is shown with jet black hair which she often wears in a bushy ponytail with long parted bangs. She has brown eyes and wears pale face makeup and peach eye shadow around her eyelids, under her eyebrows and above her cheekbones.
==Personality==
Lydia is a serious, but kind girl who is sensitive beyond her goth dress and feels isolated in the world. Her father and step-mother do not take anything she says seriously and often ignore her for their own selfish pursuits. Lydia loves writing poetry, taking photographs, and loves anything pertaining to the supernatural and paranormal. 
Despite her young age, Lydia appears to be the most sensible member of the Deetz household, as such, she felt alienated within her own home. However, bonding with the Maitlands helped her feel more content, however, when she mistook Beetlejuice's snake form as done by them, she lost all hope, and planned to commit suicide; when she realized it wasn't them, she still wanted to die to be with them, the only people that she could enjoy being around. Fortunately, the Maitlands convinced her problems don't end in death, so she should value life to keep it; thus she held the willpower to make a deal with Beetlejuice to save the ghost couple from Otho's exorcism, who in turn saved her from Beetlejuice's marriage deal.
By the end of the film, she is more happy and well-adjusted because Adam and Barbara Maitland become active parental figures alongside Charles and Delia Deetz, who take a stronger role in her upbringing after having seen her nearly forced into marriage with Betelgeuse. Even when the Maitlands moved on to their afterlife, the Deetzes were, if still eccentric, but stable guardians that were supportive, unlike they were originally.
As an adult, Lydia had stronger mental fortitude, although she often relied on self-medication to deal with the stress that her show's attention and pressure placed upon her. While she initially fell in love with Richard, marrying him and giving birth to their daughter, their relationship seemed to fall apart for no solid singular reason; as such, his unexpected death years after their divorce didn't hurt her as deeply as their daughter, since they had drifted so far apart emotionally - she still grieved his death, but she wasn't heartbroken like she would've been when they were still together. Lydia's subsequent relationship with her producer, Rory, wasn't exactly abusive, however, it was dysfunctional and he'd take an uninvited level of control over her life; she didn't even seem to like him and his intrusive manipulations seemed to bother her, but she merely acquiesced to his demands due to being too fatigued and indifferent to counter him.
Lydia was a kind mother, since even when Astrid resented her and unfairly blamed her for Richard's death, she didn't take it to heart; Lydia would also agree to allow Astrid more freedom than she herself had before the Maitlands, as well as her living parental figures redeeming themselves. Lydia selflessly summoned Beetlejuice to help her save her daughter, even though she knew his deal would trap her into a marriage with him. Upon reconnecting with Astrid, Lydia still left her own life in the hands of another with the imminent marriage to Rory, but when she learned Rory didn't love her and worse was exploiting her for money, she finally took control back over her own life.
==History==
===Beetlejuice===
Her family, arrive from New York City. Charles Deetz is a former real estate developer; his wife Delia, a sculptor; and his goth daughter Lydia, from his first marriage, is an aspiring photographer. Under the guidance of interior designer Otho, Delia begins to transform the house into a posh modern art piece.
While the Maitlands are away seeing Juno, Lydia discovers the handbook and reads it. Although Adam and Barbara remain invisible to Charles and Delia, Lydia can see the ghost couple and befriends them.
When Beetlejuice, as a giant snake, attacked Lydia's family and almost killed her father, she inaccurately concluded that it was done by Adam and Barbara. Lydia later penned a suicide note, but upon returning to the attic, she saw miniature Beetlejuice on the town model; when he tried to convince her to summon him, she realized that he was the snake, rather than the friendly ghost couple. When Lydia met with Adam and Barbara, after they returned from the afterlife bureaucratic office, she confessed her desire to die, but they help her realize that death doesn't end sorrow; they, however, comfort her by saying that they are willing to let the family remain in the house, and Lydia will be able to visit them any time she wanted.
Otho had unwittingly performed an exorcism instead. Horrified, Lydia begrudgingly summons Beetlejuice for help; but he agrees to help her only on the condition that she marry him, enabling him to freely cause chaos in the mortal world. Beetlejuice saves the Maitlands and disposes of Maxie, his wife, and Otho, then prepares a wedding before a ghastly minister. The Maitlands intervene before the ceremony is completed, with Barbara riding a sandworm through the house to devour Betelgeuse.
Finally, the Deetzes and Maitlands agree to live in harmony within the house. Meanwhile, Adam, Barbara, and Lydia are seen in a remodeled part of the house dancing to the late Harry Belafonte's "Jump in the Line" (with Lydia floating in the air) to celebrate Lydia getting an "A" on her math test at school.
===Beetlejuice Beetlejuice===
Lydia returns in the sequel and is played again by Winona Ryder. Lydia is a widow, whose husband has recently passed away, has a teenage daughter named Astrid, who doesn't believe in her abilities, she has her own television show "Ghost House with Lydia Deetz", and she will be dealing with the death of her father from an accident, as she reunites with Beetlejuice.
At some unknown point in time, Adam and Barbara Maitland discovered a loophole that allowed them to pass on to the Great Beyond. Lydia would meet a kindred spirit in Richard, and they were wed, with Lydia eventually giving birth to their daughter, Astrid. For unknown reasons, Richard and Lydia divorced, with a reason implied to be Lydia becoming a TV psychic in "Ghost House with Lydia Deetz", which was against his egalitarian and charitable mindset. When in the Amazon to prevent deforestation, Richard died in a boating accident; as Astrid was closer to her dad, she grew to resent Lydia, especially due to believing the divorce pushed him away to his death, making them estranged.
36 years after Lydia's initial confrontation with Beetlejuice, she began see manifestations of him, which she hoped and believed were merely post-traumatic hallucinations.
While Lydia's father, Charles, survived a plane crash, he was killed when a shark bit off his head. For the funeral, Lydia and Delia went to Astrid's school to pick her up, which she didn't know why due to her screening calls from her mother. The family return to the house in Winter River, Connecticut, to organize the funeral, although Lydia's controlling producer and boyfriend, Rory, accompanied them despite it being a matter relevant to them. At the wake, inappropriately Rory proposed to Lydia, who awkwardly refused, but when he began to emotionally blackmail her, she relented, and he revealed he had already planned a date on her favorite holiday of Halloween, which was two days away.
In the afterlife, Beetlejuice had been relegated to management of a dead call center, and he still had a framed photo of Lydia of when she was a teenager. When he learned that Charles died, he began planning another chance with Lydia. Meanwhile, Dolores, wife of Beetlejuice when they both were still alive, reassembled her body parts in a storage area; she sucked the soul of a ghost janitor, revealing that even the dead can die worse than becoming a lost soul. When Beetlejuice was alerted to his wife's reappearance, he revealed to his employees their history of how they were married and she poisoned him on their wedding night, thus he axed her to bits before dying.
Embarrassed by her mother's choice in partners, Astrid rode a bike into town; after several near-collisions, she crashed through a fence, stopping at the base of tree with a treehouse. A boy in the tree greeted her, introducing himself as Jeremy; they bond over parental discomfort. He invited her to meet again later.
In the house's attic, by the model village created by the late Adam Maitland, Astrid found a leaflet for Beetlejuice, but not knowing what it was, didn't pay it much mind; behind the model, she then discovered a box with her father's name; she peruses the contents, finding a photo album that showed Richard and Lydia's times together, including when she was pregnant with Astrid. Lydia joined her in the attic, and they bond over the photos; however, when Lydia saw the Beetlejuice leaflet, she panicked and forced Astrid to leave the attic, forbidding her from going there again. Despite Lydia claiming it was for her daughter's benefit, Astrid, who already doesn't believe in the supernatural, is angered as she believed Lydia was trying to sabotage her memories of her father.
Astrid meets with Jeremy again the next day; his parents seem disinterested in her, while Jeremy showcases his room, which seemed full of 1990's pop culture, which he explained as his hipster hobby. Astrid vented about her frustrations, which Jeremy seemed sympathetic about, as he explained his mother constantly stress bakes and his father became a couch potato after an accident at work got him fired. Astrid found the Guidebook for the Recently Deceased which Jeremy nonchalantly said was from a yard sale. Before Astrid left, Jeremy invited her to join him on Halloween, as it was her favorite holiday, and so she agreed.
Lydia attempted to explain to Rory about the danger of Beetlejuice, but he doesn't believe her; in a smug attempt to "help" he recited the name three times, which teleported them both down to miniature size on the town model. Before Rory can process what happened they are dropped through a trapdoor into a counselor's office, with Beetlejuice playing the therapist. Beetlejuice magicked a pregnancy into Lydia, which erupted with a torrent of fluid from her abdomen and a demon Beetlejuice baby crawling around and giggling maniacally. Rory cried it must be his imagination, but to challenge that, Beetlejuice showed his most terrifying face to them, which made Rory faint; Lydia demanded to know what he wanted. Beetlejuice explained about how Delores was hunting him and he needed to hide behind another relationship, which Lydia deduced was marriage to her; he confirmed this, and while Lydia doesn't agree, she said she would consider it, which Beetlejuice accepted as good enough, thus returning Lydia and Rory to the world of the living.
Lydia exclaimed what happened to Delia, who reassured her that she handled the trickster before, and will do so again. While Lydia wanted to leave, Astrid pleaded to stay so she could spend time with Jeremy, which Lydia uncomfortably agreed to allowing. Lydia dropped Astrid at Jeremy's place, and insisted that she would be picked up at 10pm. In Jeremy's room, Astrid kissed him, but when pulling away, realized that they were floating; after she fell to the ground, she alarmingly understood that her mother wasn't a fraud, and could see ghosts. Jeremy eased her fears by saying he meant no harm, revealing that he had been trapped within the radius of his home, with nobody seeing him until Astrid arrived. He asked for a favor, which he promised would be fun, which was to recite a spell from the guidebook, so that he could return to life to be with her.
At her family house, Lydia conversed with the realtor about trouble with children; the realtor revealed that the only house she could never sell was a murder house, which Lydia gradually learned was the very house she dropped off Astrid. The realtor also revealed that the murderer was Jeremy, ho killed his parents and died by falling out of the treehouse when police tried to arrest him. Fearing for her daughter, Lydia rushed back to Jeremy's home.
When Lydia reached Jeremy's room, Astrid had already said the spell and both teens had entered into the spirit realm. In desperation, Lydia returned to the attic of her house, and summoned Beetlejuice; she asked for his help, which he agreed to as long as she married him. Lydia agreed, but he made her sign a contract to make it a deal. Beetlejuice escorted Lydia into the afterlife, whereupon they split to find her daughter.
Meanwhile, Delia, in an attempt to complete an Egyptian Pharaoh-style rite, sat by Charles' grave with two asps she ordered; while she believed them to be de-fanged, they weren't, and thus each bite either side of her neck. Delia awakened in the afterlife waiting room, becoming panicked when she realized that she was dead; she objected to it, but none of the waiting spirits or staff take her seriously.
When Jeremy got his documents stamped, he confessed to Astrid that they spell she said was part of a ritual whereupon she would trade her life for his, thereby returning him to existence, but leaving her trapped in the afterlife. Jeremy mockingly thanked her before rushing away, however, Astrid pursued him; when they pass the train station, one of the attendants was revealed to be her late father, Richard, who began following after them. Lydia reunited with Astrid, yet It appeared as though Jeremy had already reached the final booth to regain his life, but Beetlejuice had taken the auditor's place, stamping a rejection on his deal, and pulling a lever to send Jeremy down a trapdoor into Hell.
Richard caught up with them, and has a tearful reunion with Astrid. The three have a moment to reconnect, with Richard noting that he doesn't want to be the reason that Lydia and Astrid are estranged, and hoped that they could restore their once close relationship; before they part, Richard assured them that they were stronger together.
Lydia and Astrid return to the world of living; Lydia remembered her imminent marriage to Rory, so walked quickly to the chapel. Astrid questioned if she even wanted to be married to Rory, which Lydia answered with indifference, although claiming that he seemed to love her, which should be adequate. Entering the chapel, they found the crowd are entirely strangers; when Lydia asked Rory about them, he dismissed it as still "small" since they were influencers with less than a million followers.
Before the ceremony could start, Beetlejuice appeared alongside Delia. Rory became terrified as he thought Beetlejuice was just a dream, which the latter countered as more like a nightmare, but was flattered by the kinder label. Beetlejuice expressed a desire for privacy, thereby trapped all of of the influencers within their phones. Then, Beetlejuice injected truth serum into Rory, who confessed that he never had a dead fiancé, and he went to grief groups to find an emotionally vulnerable woman to exploit; Lydia wondered why, to which he answered as money, and with her gimmick, he had a steady financial stream guaranteed. Beetlejuice momentarily shared his reality warping powers to give Lydia a boxing glove that had the power to knock Rory across the hall.
Beetlejuice, inspired by the Maitlands from 36 years ago, puppeteered everyone into lip synching and dancing to a song, as he called forth a giant wedding cake. Before the vows could even be uttered, Delores burst into the chapel, demanding Beetlejuice's soul. The stop the danger of the spirits, Lydia and Astrid use the guidebook to draw a door way into Titan, which drew a sandworm into the chapel; Beetlejuice - as a matador - guided the sandworm around the chapel, before eventually allowing it to swallow both Delores and Rory, before it dove back into the portal to Titan.
The ghost police storm the chapel to apprehend Beetlejuice, but he froze them with his powers. After further knowledge from the guidebook, Astrid pointed out that the contract to marry her mother was void, since he violated the rules by bringing a living soul into the world of the afterlife. Afterwards, mother and daughter found a spell to alter his summoning/banishment spell, which made him inflate like a blimp and burst like a balloon. A shred with his face bemoaned that they should have been married in Vegas, before he vanished.
With Beetlejuice gone, the ghost police are free to move again; they politely warn Lydia and Astrid about meddling in afterlife affairs, and hope that the next time they cross into the afterlife won't be until many years away. Lydia then realized that Delia was dead; her step-mother reassured her that they would be fine without her, and noted that she was looking forward to reuniting with her recently deceased husband, anyway. Astrid also noted that Delia's artwork would now skyrocket in value, which made her somewhat happy to be dead now, if it were to benefit her craft.
Lydia and Astrid begin following Richard's request, as they travel together, to explore the world as family. A trip to Romania ended up with Astrid meeting a boy, with whom she married; then, Astrid was in a delivery room, which seemed normal at first, until a loud slush of blood flowing. The baby was the demon Beetlejuice baby from before, and it murdered two of the doctors, before crawling on the ceiling, then dropping upon Astrid's bed, calling her mother. Lydia awakened in her bed; before she could be reassured it was only a nightmare, next her, Beetlejuice rolled over to ask if she was okay. Lydia awakened yet again, now confused and alarmed, as she hoped that she actually was free from the demon trickster.
==Gallery==
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