Rumors have circulated for years about the possibility of a HOCUS POCUS sequel, and it looks like Disney has finally decided to do it. The second installment focuses on a witch hunter who teams up with a magical housewife to stop a power-hungry evil witch. There’s no word yet whether the original cast will return in any capacity, but from the sound of the project, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy will probably not be resurrected this time around.

Back in July of 2012, Disney denied a rumor swirling on the internet that “Hocus Pocus 2: Rise of the Elderwitch” was in development after Perez Hilton, MTV, and other gossip outlets ran wide with the story. This time, however, the Tracking Board has specific details about the production.

We have reports that Allison Shearmur Productions has signed to produce the film and that Bryan Oh, Stephen Meinen, and Allison Shearmur herself are in charge at the company. Tendo Nagenda and Jessica Virtue are executive producing at Disney.

The aim for the two protagonist female leads is in the vein of Tina Fey and Melissa McCarthy. Though the original film dealt with 3 witch-sisters coming back on Halloween night, this story seems to focus on drawing different people together to fight a common evil.

The film still seems a long way from production, but now that it’s actually in development, fans have true cause to get excited.

More good news on the UNTITLED HOCUS POCUS SEQUEL front: Tina Fey and her company Little Stranger will produce the project. When we broke news of the project’s details back in April, we knew that producers were aiming for two leading ladies in the vein of Fey and Melissa McCarthy; there’s no word yet on whether Fey will appear in front of the camera, but she’s getting in on the action behind it. Fey joins producer Allison Shearmur and execs Bryan Oh, and Stephen Meinen from Allison Shearmur Productions, and execs and Jessica Virtue and Tendo Nagenda from Disney.

The original “Hocus Pocus” focused on a teenage boy who finds himself the target of the three evil witches–the Sanderson sisters, played by Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. The sequel will pick up years after the original, focusing on a housewife who is related to the Sanderson sisters, who teams up with a witch hunter to save her children after they run afoul of some resurrected witches while out trick-or-treating. No actors from the original film have been confirmed as returning for the sequel. In fact, no actors are yet attached to the project. My assumption is that producers are looking for a Fey type for the housewife and a McCarthy type for the witch hunter, but thinking about Fey and McCarthy’s previous work, those roles could easily be reversed.

Fey is best known for her work as the star and showrunner of the NBC comedy “30 Rock,” and prior to that, for her time as a writer and beloved Weekend Update anchor on “Saturday Night Live.” Shearmur, meanwhile, was a producer on “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” and will produce Kenneth Brannagh’s upcoming live-action “Cinderella.”

We’re still a long way from seeing a “Hocus Pocus” sequel on our screens, but Fey’s involvement is a good sign on both a creative and executive level. Given that rumors of the sequel have been spreading and getting denied for years now, it’s good to see forward motion of any kind on the project. And behind the camera or in front of it, Fey is a charming and funny presence–and the original “Hocus Pocus” was pretty charming and funny, so the sequel needs to bring its A game if it wants to match it. It’s a good thing Fey is on hand to help.

Fey is repped by WME and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Adam Shankman will direct “Hocus Pocus 2” at Disney Plus, sources tell Variety.

The film — a sequel to 1993’s cult hit “Hocus Pocus” starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy — was written by “Workaholics” writer and co-producer Jen D’Angelo.

Shankman is currently in pre-production on Disney’s “Enchanted” sequel, titled “Disenchanted.” It’s yet to be determined which film will be in the works first.

The original “Hocus Pocus” cast members are not attached to the sequel, but Disney is hopeful that they will become involved in some capacity. Sources say that ideally the trio of actresses will reprise their roles, rather than having to completely reboot the first film.

Halloween 2019 is over, but speculation about the planned Hocus Pocus sequel has only just begun.

The trio of stars at the center of Disney’s seasonal classic have all expressed interest in returning for Hocus Pocus 2, currently in development for the new Disney+ streaming service.

Actresses Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy — who played wicked witches Winifred and Mary Sanderson in the Kenny Ortega-directed 1993 original — attended the former’s annual Hulaween gala in New York City Thursday night, where they spoke about their potential involvement in the cinematic continuation.

“Oh my goodness me. Oh, I hope they get to me before I’m a corpse,” Midler told Entertainment Tonight at the event. “We wanna fly again. I hope Disney+ is a big success and I hope we get to do it, because [Winifred] is of course one of my favorite characters…. I can’t wait to read the script. We’re gonna see what happens.” she added.

“I heard about it online the same time as [everyone else]. But here’s the honest answer: Sarah and Bette and I all have a million projects and things that we’re into, so I don’t know if they’re gonna offer us [roles]. I don’t know if the worlds are going to collide so that we could all three do it at the same time,” Najimy said. “But I’m happy that it’s happening, because the fans are really rabid and they really want it,” she added. “[And] if we’re not all available to star in it, I think it would be so great to do a cameo. I think that’d be really fun.”

Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Sarah, the third Sanderson sister, wasn’t in attendance, though she did stoke further speculation with an Instagram post celebrating the movie. When a fan commented with a question about the potential for a sequel, Parker replied: “We have all said yes. Now we wait.”

In the sequel, “Three young women accidentally bring the Sanderson Sisters back to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking a new kind of havoc on the world.”

Anne Fletcher (The Guilt Trip) has also been confirmed to direct the movie this fall.

According to new plot details released by the Mouse House, the new Hocus Pocus will pick up 29 years after a teen named Max (played by Omri Katz in the original 1993 film) lit the Black Flame Candle and resurrected the three 17th-century child-essence-stealing sorceresses.

Winifred (Midler), Sarah (Parker), and Mary (Najimy) are now looking for revenge when they find themselves back in Salem in the present day. It's up to three high school students, who incite the wrath of the enchantresses, to stop them.

Those three teens are Becca (Gossip Girl's Whitney Peak), Cassie (Dirt's Lilia Buckingham), and Izzy (American Horror Stories' Belissa Escobedo).

Additional casting was announced on Halloween, with original Hocus Pocus actor Doug Jones returning for the sequel to reprise his role of Billy Butcherson, whom Winifred resurrected as a decaying dead man in the first movie.