Disney is developing a fifth installment of its Halloweentown franchise, bringing the supernatural family series back for the first time in 20 years. The project is being developed for Disney Channel and Disney+, although a release date and cast have yet to be announced.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Lily Houghton (Forbidden Fruits) and Ryan Koehn (Gossip Girl) have been tapped to write the screenplay, based on characters originally created by Paul Bernbaum, who wrote the 1998 film. Story details remain under wraps, and it is unclear whether the new installment will continue the adventures of the original characters or introduce a new generation of witches.
The original Halloweentown premiered on Disney Channel on October 17, 1998, and starred Kimberly J. Brown as Marnie Piper, a 13-year-old girl who discovers that she comes from a family of witches. After learning about her magical heritage from her grandmother, Aggie Cromwell (Debbie Reynolds), Marnie travels to Halloweentown, a hidden world inhabited by witches, ghosts, goblins, and other supernatural creatures.
Directed by Duwayne Dunham, the film also starred Judith Hoag as Marnie’s mother, Gwen, Joey Zimmerman as her brother Dylan, and Emily Roeske as her younger sister Sophie. Its combination of fantasy, comedy, and family-friendly Halloween adventure helped establish it as one of Disney Channel’s most recognizable original movies.
The film’s popularity led to three sequels over the following eight years. Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge arrived in 2001, following Marnie and Aggie as they attempted to stop a new threat that endangered both the magical and mortal worlds. The sequel reunited much of the original cast and expanded the mythology surrounding Halloweentown and its inhabitants.
In 2004, Disney released Halloweentown High, which followed Marnie as she attempted to bring students from Halloweentown into the mortal world. The film explored the challenges of integrating magical beings into everyday human society while continuing the franchise’s themes of family, acceptance, and embracing one’s identity.
The fourth installment, Return to Halloweentown, premiered in October 2006 and followed Marnie as she enrolled at Witch University. However, the film featured a significant casting change, with Sara Paxton replacing Kimberly J. Brown in the lead role. The decision disappointed some longtime fans, particularly because Brown had portrayed Marnie throughout the first three movies.
Brown has remained closely associated with the franchise and has repeatedly expressed interest in returning. Earlier this month, during an appearance at the Step Up Inspiration Awards, she revealed that she had already communicated her willingness to participate in another installment.
“I have told Disney I’m down. They know we’re all down to do another one,” Brown told PauseRewind, adding that the decision ultimately rests with Disney.
Brown also married Daniel Kountz, who portrayed Kal in Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge, in 2024, giving the franchise another lasting connection beyond the screen.
One original cast member who will be absent from any new installment is Debbie Reynolds, whose portrayal of the eccentric and affectionate Aggie Cromwell became central to the series. Reynolds appeared in all four films before her death in December 2016 at the age of 84, just one day after the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher.
Although the franchise has been dormant for two decades, it has continued to attract viewers through annual Halloween programming and streaming. According to Disney’s reported figures, the four films have accumulated more than 160 million hours of viewing worldwide on Disney+, with the original ranking among the service’s 10 most-watched Halloween movies in October 2025.
The new project arrives as Disney continues to revisit properties from its extensive catalog of family-oriented films and television programming. Whether Halloweentown 5 will reunite surviving original cast members or focus on an entirely new group of characters remains to be seen.
For now, the fifth film remains in the early stages of development, with no production schedule or premiere date confirmed.
All four original Halloweentown films are currently available to stream on Disney+.