Hocus Pocus 2 ending explained

Hocus Pocus 2 brings us more Sanderson Sister antics, and if you’re wondering how they get defeated this time around, here’s the sequel’s ending explained.

Hocus Pocus is back, witches! The sequel to the nostalgic cult classic has finally dropped on Disney+ , and after almost three decades, the Sanderson Sisters have returned to enact their revenge on Salem, with a new group of teenagers struggling to stop them.

The film has plenty of goings-on, including curses, costumes, and Walgreens. But how does the film end, and does it end happily? Well, sort of.

Let us explain the ending, but first, a warning: major spoilers ahead…

What happens at the end of Hocus Pocus 2?

The sequel follows similar events of the first film. After teenage virgin Becca (Whitney Peak) unassumingly lights a black candle on Halloween, she accidently brings back the iconic Sanderson Sisters. Hijinks ensue, obviously, as each side attempts to survive the coming sunrise.

Throughout the film, the man who gave Becca the candle, Gilbert (Sam Richardson), has been cursed by the witches to collect ingredients that will help them to live forever, and cause havoc on the town of Salem. One of these ingredients includes the head of Winnie’s former lover, Billy Butcherson (Doug Jones), although the zombie, whose mouth is now unstitched, remains adamant that they weren’t actually together, and he only kissed her once.

The film ends with the Sisters having gotten everything they needed from Gilbert, and after stealing her spell book back from Becca, head witch Winnie puts the spell into place.

During this time, Becca has discovered that she herself is a witch, and with the help of her best friends Izzy and Cassie (Belissa Escobedo and Lilia Buckingham), she does her best to fight the Sanderson Sisters off. However, the sisters seemingly win due to their experience, and the spell begins.

The Sanderson sequel ends with multiple twists

But in a shocking turn of events, Winnie failed to note the spell’s warning, which was also written in the spell book: to gain ultimate power, she must sacrifice something she loves. And the thing she loves? Why, that would be her sisters, if their constant bickering would have you believe it.

Sister witches Sarah and Mary dissolve away, leaving Winnie to survive sunrise, all by herself.

In a surprising turn of character, Winnie is heartbroken at these turn of events and emotionally begs Becca to cast a spell to reunite them. The teenagers grant her wish, but the spell doesn’t bring Mary and Sarah back, rather it sends Winnie to them.

Winnie doesn’t mind though. In fact, she appears relieved and happy to be joining her sisters once more. So ultimately, she too, is Thanos snapped away.

The fight is finally over, and the teenage friends rejoice. Billy disappears as well, after making Gilbert promise to tell people what really happened between him and Winne. Gilbert also apologizes to the girls for giving them the candle, and promises them a 10% discount on anything they want.

And that’s the ending of Hocus Pocus 2! Now, if you stick around to the end of the credits, there is actually a very interesting post-credits scene. But since we’ve already written about that scene, we shan’t spoil it here.

Hocus Pocus 2 is currently available to stream on Disney+. Check out our review here.