Last month it was announced that writer/producer pair David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith were working on a sequel to Tim Burton's 1988 comedy, Beetlejuice. Today, EW spoke with pair who say that they've already got Burton's blessing and that they wouldn't want to move forward if they didn't think that Michael Keaton would be returning to the title role.

"When Warner Bros. came to us about it, we said the only way we'd do it if we got Tim [Burton's] blessing and involvement, and we got that," says Grahame-Smith, "and the star of the movie has to be Michael Keaton as Beetlejuice, and it's a true continuation 26 years later. Not just throwing him in as a cameo going, 'Hey, it's me. I endorse this movie.' We're not there yet, because we don't have a film to present to him."

While the original film spawned a lesser-known animated series, a sequel was planned in the early '90s with the title Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian. Burton had planned to return as director, but the project failed to develop beyond an initial screenplay. It is currently unknown whether or not Katzenberg and Grahame-Smith's upcoming script will have any crossover with that original concept.