'HOCUS POCUS' ACTOR OMRI KATZ SAYS ORIGINAL FILM STARS 'WEREN'T INVITED' TO THE SEQUEL

As many Hocus Pocus cast members reunited 30 years later at the second annual 90s Con, Thora Birch said there were "concepts" and "ideas" for their return — but Omri Katz added they "weren't invited"

The witching hour has arrived for Hocus Pocus fans at 90s Con!

At the 1990s-themed convention in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday, Hocus Pocus cast members Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Jason Marsden and Omri Katz reunited for a panel discussion about the iconic 1993 Disney movie, moderated by PEOPLE's Michael Gioia.

During the panel, the group responded to a fan who inquired about why they weren't involved in the sequel to the original film, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in July.

"We weren't invited to that meeting. So we don't really know why we weren't invited," Katz, 46, said. "I think the fan base really wanted to see something with us. ... Yeah, I don't know. It's hard to really figure out the decisions that are made regarding what they want to do."

Birch, 41, explained that "the process in No. 2 being brought about was so long," and having them return "was something that was discussed."

"The desire [and] the concept of maybe doing [a sequel] was about 10 years. But then there were numbers of different writers that came on board and different directors, and so the story and the concept and the direction in which they wanted to take, too, kept evolving and changing and growing," she said.

"I do know that there were, along the way, some concepts and some ideas about ways to bring us back. And for whatever reason, it just didn't work," she continued. "Some of us were going to be on, some of us weren't. And then it just was such a roller coaster ride.

Birch added: "What we like to say in the business: we had scheduling conflicts."

Marsden, 48, said he's "been in this business long enough to not get your hopes up about anything, really."

"I did speak with Mr. David Kirschner, [who created and produced the film]. He said he did try to fight to get you three especially," he continued. "But there's a committee. It's a team. It's an IP now — intellectual property. It's close to your hearts, but it belongs to a committee now. And so it's left up to them to make the right decisions."

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Hocus Pocus also starred Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, Doug Jones, Larry Bagby and Tobias Jelinek, who were not present at Saturday's panel in Connecticut.

The beloved Halloween favorite spawned a long-awaited sequel last year, which saw Najimy, 66, Midler, 77, and Parker, 57, reprise their characters awakened decades after their defeat in the original movie and seek revenge in modern-day Salem, Massachusetts.

Jones, 62, also returned for the sequel, which made its mark as Disney+'s No. 1 movie debut domestically based on hours streamed in the first three days of its release back in October.

RELATED VIDEO: Sarah Jessica Parker Is Joined by Matthew Broderick and Their Daughters at Hocus Pocus 2 Premiere

Ahead of the film's release, Midler told PEOPLE that the cast and crew knew the story had more to give beyond the beloved first film.

"We all wanted to do it," she said, noting that Parker was one of the people who really pushed to make it happen. "What we couldn't understand was after the thing snowballed, we couldn't understand, as we spoke together, we would often speak together, and [think] why don't they ever give us a sequel?"

"It wasn't like a crazy, aggressive push," she continued. "It was just that we felt that it had a life outside of what it had had. And eventually 30 years later, they came to their senses!"

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2023-03-18T17:35:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd