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Who plays Winifred Sanderson in Hocus Pocus 2?
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Who plays the Sanderson sisters in 'Hocus Pocus 2'?
Oct 6, 2022 · Movies. The advice Bette Midler gave the actor playing young Winifred in ‘Hocus Pocus 2’. Taylor Henderson, 15, watched the Halloween classic nearly 40 times while preparing for her...
Sep 30, 2022 · Hocus Pocus 2: Directed by Anne Fletcher. With Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Whitney Peak. Two young women accidentally bring back the Sanderson Sisters to modern day Salem and must figure out how to stop the child-hungry witches from wreaking havoc on the world.
- (53K)
- Comedy, Family, Fantasy
- Anne Fletcher
- 2022-09-30
Sep 30, 2022 · Winifred Sanderson (Bette Midler) Fiery-tempered Winifred Sanderson leads her sisters in their return to Salem to eat more children and survive past Halloween night. It is Winifred’s...
Oct 3, 2022 · Who Plays Young Winifred Sanderson? Taylor Paige Henderson. Henderson portrays the younger version of the oldest Sanderson sister, Winifred, in the sequel.
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“Lock up your children! Yes, Salem, we're back!”
―Winifred announcing the return of the Sanderson Sisters
Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson is the main antagonist of Disney's 1993 film Hocus Pocus and its 2022 sequel. She is the eldest and most intelligent witch who lived during the time of the Salem Witch Trials, along with her two sisters: Mary and Sarah.
For her witchcraft, she was sentenced to death by the Salem townsfolk in 1693 and was later brought back from the dead by Max Dennison after three hundred years. Upon her return, Winifred began to terrorize the town in hopes of kidnapping children and stealing their souls to keep herself from dying and aging once more.
Winifred was born in 1637 in Salem, Massachusetts where she lived with her two younger sisters, Mary and Sarah as orphans after their father, an apothecary, died. At some point in her youth, Winifred shared a single kiss with a young boy named Billy Butcherson in a graveyard and grew to believe they were soulmates, despite the fact that he didn't reciprocate this feeling. It results in her obsession with him.
In 1653, on her sixteenth birthday, Reverend Traske arranged for Winifred to marry John Pritchett. However, she adamantly refused and took the Lord's name in vain twice due to her disgust for Pritchett, saying that she would only marry Billy. When she wouldn't relent in her decision, the Reverend deemed that she had defied the authority of the church and had her banished from Salem. Rather than allow her sisters to be taken away from her, Winifred escaped with them to the nearby forbidden wood. There, they made the acquaintance of a forest enchantress, whom they referred to as Mother, and she sensed that Winifred, too, was a witch. The enchantress gifted Winifred a spellbook, created by Satan himself, called the Manual of Witchcraft and Alchemy for her sixteenth birthday but explicitly warned the Sanderson sisters against casting a spell known as the Magicae Maxima. The Witch Mother also revealed to them that by killing children witches could stay young and "ridiculously" beautiful. Later that night, Winifred and her sisters successfully sought revenge against Reverend Traske by casting a spell to set fire to his home.
Hocus Pocus
In 1693, the Sanderson Sisters, now graying and stooped with age, decide to brew the Life Potion, which will steal the life force of a child to restore their own youth and vitality. As Winifred and Mary work on the potion, they send Sarah out to lure a child with her siren-like voice. She soon returns with a young girl named Emily Binx, whom they bewitch in no time to sit docilely in a chair as they finish up the potion. However, just after Emily obediently drinks the potion, the girl's elder brother Thackery interrupts them and attempts to rescue her. Mary and Sarah gleefully chase him around the room, but he manages to knock them down by shoving their enormous cauldron at them, spilling the rest of the potion in the process. A furious Winifred easily subdues him with her powers before Mary points out that the potion is working: Emily's life force is visible. The sisters eagerly crowd around Emily and suck her life force away until their youth is restored and Emily dies of old age on Halloween night. Rejoicing at the success of their potion, the witches then turn their attention to Thackery. Winifred initially plans to simply kill him, but she changes her mind when he calls her a hag and decides that he deserves a harsher punishment. Together with her sisters, she curses him to live forever in the form of a black cat, doomed to live for all eternity with the guilt of his failure to save Emily. Just after they perform the spell, an angry mob arrives at their cottage, led by Emily and Thackery's parents. Winifred and Mary attempt to barricade the door and convince the crowd that they're merely spinsters spending a quiet evening at home, but an air-headed Sarah impulsively adds that they've been killing children before her sisters can stop her. Soon enough, the sisters are captured and hanged. But before they die, Winifred casts one final spell declaring that on Halloween night when the moon is full, a virgin will summon them back from the dead, allowing them to once again claim the lives of all the children in Salem. A full three hundred years later, the sisters are revived when someone lights the Black Flame Candle, whose mysterious powers can summon them back from the dead- but only for a single night. Nevertheless, the sisters are overjoyed at returning to their cottage, even more so when Mary announces that she smells children. Her powerful nose leads them straight to a young girl's hiding place, forcing her, Dani, out into the open. They pick her up and almost succeed in throwing her into their cauldron when Dani's older brother, Max, - the one who lit the candle- jumps out of hiding, demanding that they release his sister. Amused, Winifred easily subdues him with her powers. Winifred practices her witchcraft on him delighted that she hasn't lost her touch at all. However, Dani and Max's friend, Allison manages to wallop Mary with a frying pan as Dani hits Winifred and Sarah with her trick-or-treat bag. Before Winnie can retaliate, a black cat attacks her out of nowhere, giving Dani enough time to wake up her dazed brother. Max triggers the sprinklers, which he convinces the witches is a "burning rain of death". The cat orders Max to grab the spellbook, batting at him impatiently when Max stares at the talking cat in shock. Nevertheless, he breaks into the glass case containing the book and makes his escape along with the cat. The sisters find them at the cemetery and Winifred summons her ex-boyfriend, Billy Butcherson, to get her book back. The sisters encounter a bus driver and ride on the bus until Mary smells the children. But they were confused when the children were wearing costumes. They encounter a man dressed as Satan and mistaking him for their true master and his wife to be Medusa (a woman with snake-like curlers in her hair), but were so chased out of the house by the man's wife but finds their brooms gone after they were taken by some children dressed like the sisters. When Winifred unmasks a kid in a costume, she realizes the truth of Halloween children wear costumes and run amok which Sarah finds funny and Winfred punches her in the stomach to get her to stop. The sisters went to a Halloween party where Max's parents and Max, Dani, and Allison tried to warn them, but they didn't believe them, so Max went to the stage and used a microphone to tell everyone about the Sanderson Sister and revealed them, but Winifred ridicules him before singing "I Put a Spell on You" therefore enchanting all the adults causing them to dance until they die. After this, they went to Max and Allison's high school where Max spoke through the microphone at the office telling them that the spellbook was there. The sisters heard a voice talking about a book which the sisters think is about the spellbook, but it was actually a tape recording and were unwittingly led to a kiln where the children locked the door and burned them alive after Allison got an idea from a restaurant. However, they did not die due to the curse protecting them from death until sunrise. Mary used her smell to find Max, but they were led to two high school bullies, Jay and Ernie (better known as Ice) as Ernie was wearing Max's shoes that he stole them during their first encountering with Max and making fun of him. After Jay called the sisters ugly chicks, the sisters captured them and took them to their cottage locking them in small hanging cages. Knowing they didn't have much time left, Winifred tried to make the potion from memory, but she couldn't remember the ingredients and called out to her book and cried in despair. Allison and Max, despite the warnings that nothing good can come from the book, open it to find a cure for Thackery's immortality and the book sends out a signal after being opened. Winifred saw the signal and used a corn broom, while Sarah used a mop and Mary used a Hoover vacuum cleaner to fly to its location. They secretly invade the house and grab the book, but after accidentally breaking some glass and knowing that Max and Alison would come to get Dani and Thackery, they hide in the closet as Sarah hides under the blankets. Max and Alison arrived and the sisters revealed themselves. The sisters violently explode from the house, but not before Winifred reveals the nature of the spell that brought them back to Allison. Winifred and Mary made their way back to the cottage while Sarah sang her siren song to all the children of Salem so they would go to the house. When Dani calls her "the ugliest thing that ever lived", Winifred decides to kill her first. After brewing the potion again they try to get Dani to drink it, but are stopped by Max who tricks them into thinking the sun has risen by using the headlights of his parents' car and Max drains all the potion. However they realize they have been tricked and Winifred is upset that her potion is all gone, but there is still enough potion left for one child. Despite Sarah and Mary saying that they have Jay and Ernie and that more children are here, Winifred wants to use the life potion on Dani as revenge for calling her ugly. The sisters chase after them and Winifred orders Billy to kill Max, but he uses Max's knife to sever the stitches on his lips, he apparently breaks the control Winifred has over him and joins the kids against them. Dani is put in Billy's grave while Allison circles some salt around to prevent the witches from reaching her. The sisters arrived and fought the kids and Billy. When Winifred knocked down Billy's head, Dani came out to give Billy his head back giving Winifred the opportunity to grab her. Winifred takes out the vial of potion and tries to force Dani into opening her mouth to drink it to "teach" her a lesson about "calling people ugly", but Thackery saves Dani by knocking the last vial of the life-stealing potion out of Winifred's hand and Max catches it. Winifred grabs Thackery and throws him to a rock. Max threatens to smash the vial of potion, but Winifred threatens to kill Dani if he does. With no other choice, Max drinks the potion and Winifred lets Dani go and grabs Max trying to suck his life force, but Max tried to hold her off while Dani, Allison, and Billy hold back Sarah and Mary to prevent them from helping Winifred by grabbing the plug hanged from Mary's vacuum cleaner. They let go causing the two sisters to fly high up to the air out of control and letting Max and Winifred fall to the ground. Winifred recovers and tries to steal Max's life force, but because she is standing on hallowed ground, she turns to stone as the sun comes up. Sarah and Mary both explode, with Winifred's statue doing so afterward. At the end of the film, however, the book is seen and it blinks, therefore hinting the sisters are not entirely gone.
Hocus Pocus 2
Winnie returns in Hocus Pocus 2, again as the chief antagonist. The film expands on the sisters' backstories and how they became witches. She was forced to be married by order of Reverend Trask, Refusing to be married to such a boorish man (preferring the company of Billy Butcherson), she and her sisters fled into the forest where they met the Mother Witch who gave her the spell book. The sisters then used their magic to wreak havoc all over the village. Thanks to another black flame candle, Winifred, Mary, and Sarah return to the present day where they put on a song.
Disney Emoji Blitz
Winifred makes an appearance in the video game Disney Emoji Blitz. She is a playable character who has the ability to resurrect the most recently used powerups from the grave. She and her sisters, Mary and Sarah, are currently the only playable Hocus Pocus characters.
Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
Winifred, alongside her sisters: Sarah and Mary, appears in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, originally for special events during the 2021 Halloween season. In the game, Winifred's abilities are referenced from her original film - including magic-green sparks from her hands, throwing the potion vial, and placing an enchantment upon enemies through song. When Winifred is defeated in the game, she will spark green and blast away.
Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular
Winifred and her sisters returned in a special Castle Show at the Magic Kingdom. During the show she and her sisters try to brew the perfect Halloween Potion, receiving assistance from various Disney Villains. She isn't respectful towards the first two characters but she treats Maleficent with respect. After completing the Potion, she celebrates by singing "I Put a Spell on You".
Sep 29, 2022 · The sequel includes flashbacks to show the Sanderson sisters in their teen years. Young Winifred is played by Taylor Paige Henderson. Taylor Paige Henderson at the ‘Hocus Pocus 2’...
Sep 13, 2022 · 'Hocus Pocus 2' stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy preview the Disney+ sequel, new musical numbers, and how they were able to resurrect the Sanderson Sisters after all ...
