Spooky season might be winding down, but we’re never ready to leave the magic of Halloweentown behind. The film franchise was a significant part of Disney Channel fans’ childhoods and helped us all believe in the magic that lies on the other side of a flying bus ride. It also helped us with our ultimate goal of visiting Halloweentown ourselves one day.
With Halloween upon us, we’re rewatching the Halloweentown movies and getting into the witchy spirit. In that vein, we’ve decided to revisit our favorite storylines and take a look at all of our favorite characters to see what they’re up to now.
The synopsis for Halloweentown, the film that started it all, is as follows:
Marnie and her siblings get a big shock when they follow Grandma home to Halloweentown⏤and find out they come from a family of witches. The town is the only place where supernatural beings can lead a ‘normal’ life, but trouble is looming, and on her 13th birthday Marnie not only finds out she is a witch, but that she and her family are involved in a fight against the evil that is threatening to take over the world.
Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge saw a stolen spell book give an evil warlock the ability to turn everyone in Halloweentown into the costumes they were wearing at midnight. Of course, this meant our favorite characters were on the move to get the book back where it belongs and save the day⏤or the night.
Halloweentown High saw Marnie start an exchange program between her school and the high school in Halloweentown. When mortals, witches, and warlocks walk the halls of their counterparts, it should create a more open relationship between those with magic and those without it. Of course, things aren’t always that simple.
The final installment of Halloweentown, Return to Halloweentown, saw a new actress take on the role of Marnie as she arrived at Halloweentown University to see what magic, mischief, and wonder the college years had in store. If you’ve not yet seen the films, this weekend is the perfect time to watch them.
So where are the cast members now, 22 years after the premiere of the film that made us all wish we could live in a town where Halloween never ends? Let’s take a look.
Kimberly J. Brown
Kimberly J. Brown was the heart of Halloweentown as Marnie and has continued to act in films and TV series since her time in the franchise. As fans know, she also starred in Halloweentown II and III, but didn’t return for the fourth film. It was announced in May of this year that Brown would join the cast of General Hospital.
Brown still has a deep love for Halloween and Halloweentown, though, and runs an Etsy shop with a friend where they sell everything from shirts to keychains. She also shared the Instagram post above just days ago and we have to say, it’s one of the best throwback/couple costumes we’ve ever seen. That’s right, Brown and Halloweentown II costar Daniel Kountz are together in real life.
Daniel Kountz
Halloweentown fans first met Daniel Kountz in the second movie as Kal. Kountz got his start in acting before being in the film and stayed in the business afterwards. Most recently, he acted in Youthful Daze and Prospectors The Forgiven.
In addition to being in a relationship with Brown, Kountz is a realtor in Los Angeles and credits himself with an uncanny ability to tell jokes at all the wrong times.
Joey Zimmerman
Joey Zimmerman played Daniel Piper in the Halloweentown films and has other acting credits before and after the films. He was Marnie’s smart little brother who discovered his own magic despite his initial disbelief that magic existed in the first place.
Zimmerman still acts, and on his Instagram account, you can see photos from plays he’s starred in over the years. He was also married in 2020, is a photographer now, and also hasn’t lost his love for Halloween and Halloweentown.
Judith Hoag
Judith Hoag got her acting start before Halloweentown and is known for her roles in Loving, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and of course as Gwen in the Halloweentown franchise.
Hoag is still a working actress, most recently with roles in series such as Nashville and The Magicians and films such as Forever My Girl and Laugh. Love. Karaoke. She also attends conventions where she has the opportunity to meet fans, many of whom will probably always see her as the loving mother and daughter from Halloweentown.
Emily Roeske
Emily Roeske played Sophie in the Halloweentown films and had a few acting credits around when she was in the movies. Unlike many of her Halloweentown counterparts, Roeske didn’t stay in the entertainment industry.
Bustle found out that Roeske teaches martial arts in Arizona and does a wonderful job. Despite no longer being an actress, she still travels to Halloweentown to connect with the movies, her friends, and her fans, as seen above.
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds played Aggie Cromwell in Halloweentown and won the hearts of audiences for being nothing less than everyone’s favorite magical grandma. Reynolds had been in the film business for an entire lifetime before being cast in the Halloweentown movies, but this role put her directly in front of a new audience, one that would grow up watching and loving her work.
Reynolds is also widely-known for roles in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Singin’ in the Rain, and Charlotte’s Web, to name a few. Her talent was unmatched, as was her kindness.
She passed away in 2016, and her memory is kept alive by those who knew and loved her.
Finn Wittrock
Finn Wittrock was introduced to the Halloweentown fandom in Halloweentown High and had credits in series like ER and Cold Case prior to that. He has stayed in the acting business and is well-known for roles in the American Horror Story series.
Wittrock’s most recent AHS role was in Double Feature and he will also appear in the upcoming film Deepwater.
Sara Paxton
Sara Paxton took over the role of Marnie in Return to Halloweentown and did an excellent job. She had a slew of acting credits to her name before Halloweentown and even more after.
Paxton has most recently been seen in Good Girls, Murder in the First, This is Us, and Sundown. She will also have a role in Blonde, a 2022 film based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.
Phillip Van Dyke
Phillip Van Dyke played Luke in Halloweentown and is famously known for his voice acting in Hey Arnold! Van Dyke is married, a father, and as of 2015, runs a sales floor of a financial services company via an interview with Bustle.
Van Dyke told E! in 2020 that he’d be up for a reboot if the rest of the cast was, too.
“You know what, I think I could be talked into it. If the rest of the cast came back and wanted to do that, I would be up for it. I’ll actually go on record and say I would.”
Rino Romano
Of course, we can’t mention the Halloweentown franchise without Rino Romano, the voice of our favorite taxi driver, Benny. Romano is a voice actor in film, television, and video games and still enjoys Halloweentown as a post on Instagram showcases. One of the most incredible things about the franchise is how everyone still feels so connected to it.
You can watch all four of the Halloweentown films on Disney Plus this weekend and any other time you’d like to pay a visit to the unforgettable land of witches, warlocks, and giant pumpkins.