The portal to Halloweentown may be opening again. TheWrap reports that Disney has a fifth Halloweentown movie in early development, 20 years after Return to Halloweentown closed out the Disney Channel franchise in 2006.
Variety reports the project is still a long way from a premiere. It has not been greenlit, and it would air on Disney Channel and stream on Disney+ only if Disney gives it the official go-ahead.
Lily Houghton and Ryan Koehn are developing the script, working from the characters created by Paul Bernbaum, who wrote the original 1998 film. What those characters will be up to this time is anyone’s guess, since the plot is being kept under wraps.
The original Halloweentown arrived in 1998 and introduced 13-year-old Marnie Piper, who learns she comes from a long line of witches and has to start her training before her powers vanish for good. Kimberly J. Brown played Marnie in the first three films, Halloweentown (1998), Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge (2001) and Halloweentown High (2004), with Debbie Reynolds as her grandmother, Aggie Cromwell. Sara Paxton took over as Marnie for Return to Halloweentown (2006), which sent the character off to Witch University.
If you want a reminder of why the original still casts such a spell, Disney Channel has the scene where Marnie and her siblings sneak onto Aggie’s bus and take their first trip to Halloweentown.
Whether either Marnie returns is an open question. No casting has been confirmed for the new film, and neither Brown nor Paxton is attached at this stage. Stars of the original movies have said in past interviews that they would be interested in coming back, but Disney has announced nothing, and past interest is not a casting decision.
The audience for a return is already there. The four films have piled up 160 million hours streamed on Disney+ around the world, and the 1998 original finished among the top 10 most-watched Halloween movies in October 2025, 27 years after it first aired.