Halloween is (still) cool! After taking over the spooky season with its debut in 1998, Halloweentown has continued to provide a place for fans to celebrate the holiday over the years.
The Disney Channel original movie followed Marnie (Kimberly J. Brown) and her siblings as they found out that they belong to a family of witches. After her grandmother Aggie (Debbie Reynolds) takes her to Halloweentown, Marnie quickly learns on her 13th birthday that she has to fight against the evil that is threatening to take over the entire world.
Fans of the iconic movie franchise weren’t the only ones keeping their love for Halloweentown alive, as the cast has attended many events in honor of the film.
“The fam bam is back together!” Brown captioned a sweet Instagram photo of her, Emily Roeske (Sophie), Joey Zimmerman (Dylan) and Judith Hoag (Gwen) at an annual Spirit of Halloweentown festival in St. Helen, Oregon, where the first movie was originally filmed, in 2017.
Over the years, Brown not only reconnected with people who loved the project, she also started dating her costar Daniel Kountz (Kal), who appeared in the 2001 sequel Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge.
“We’ve kept in touch over the years since we wrapped the second movie, and we’ve been friends on social media for a while. We hadn’t seen each other in a bit, and I wanted him to be in some of my original comedy sessions that I shoot for my YouTube channel,” Brown told Bustle in 2017 about forming a bond with Kountz years after working together.
The Guiding Light alum added: “I ended up directing a short film about where Kal could be now, and [Daniel] graciously starred in it with some of my other friends from Second City where I’ve been studying improv for a while. We shot that and that stuff on my YouTube channel kind of continued. It just naturally and very unexpectedly grew from that.”
Brown noted that the response from the Halloweentown fans has been “amazing.”
“There’s a fine line with being in the public eye and the media and my personal life, but it’s been pretty funny to watch the fans’ responses,” she shared at the time.
Three years later, the Maryland native detailed the lines that viewers have enjoyed repeating to her after finding out that Marnie and Kal are together in real life.
“People always love the … ‘If witches were all as pretty as you, they’d have a better reputation,’” Brown told the Los Angeles Times in October 2020. “And then there’s, ‘Meeting you was everything I hoped it would be,’ and that kind of thing. … Before I discover that he’s evil, obviously.”
Kountz, who transitioned into real estate after starring in the Halloweentown franchise, revealed that he still gets recognized to this day.
“A lot of [fans] say, ‘I can’t believe you’re with Marnie now. Didn’t she learn from her past mistakes?’ Funny things like that, which kind of crack me up,” Kountz added.
During the 2020 interview, Brown revealed one of the most important lessons that she learned from Reynolds, who died in 2016, when it came to appreciating their audience.
“That was something that was always very important to her,” Brown recalled. “She really taught me what a gift it is to be in that position to be able to make people happy. … That always has stuck with me.”
The Rose Red star admitted that her relationship with the Golden Globe nominee greatly reflected their on screen bond.
“[I] tried to soak up as much time with her as I could because she became another grandmother to me,” Brown shared with the L.A. Times. “So much of their relationship on screen mirrored what our relationship was in real life, so I’m grateful for that time I got with her.”
Keep scrolling for a look at where the Halloweentown cast is now:
Following her role as the oldest Piper child in the Cromwell family, Brown returned for Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge and Halloweentown High. She was recast by Sara Paxton in the 2004 final movie, Return to Halloweentown.
Since then, Brown appeared in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Low Winter Sun, Crossword Mysteries: Proposing Murder and General Hospital.
In 2016, the The Baby-Sitters Club alum cowrote a children’s book called Poppin's Pumpkin Patch Parade. She also helps run an Etsy shop that sells Halloweentown-themed merchandise for fans.
She confirmed her relationship with former costar Kountz in 2017.
Singer White/Ventura Valley Film/Kobal/Shutterstock; Earl Gibson III/Shutterstock
After reprising her role as Aggie in future installments of Halloweentown, Reynolds continued to lend her acting skills to many projects over the years. She was a voice actress for several Rugrats TV movies. She also appeared as herself in documentaries, including Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, The Jill & Tony Curtis Story and Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.
In December 2016, Reynolds died at the age of 84 from an intracerebral hemorrhage one day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, died. Reynolds' granddaughter Billie Lourd has continued to honor her grandmother and mother since their passings.
Disney Channel/Reel Fx Creative/Kobal/Shutterstock; Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
The matriarch of the Piper family moved on from Halloweentown and landed roles in projects such as The X-Files, Grey’s Anatomy, CSI: New York, Nashville, Bones, Weeds, The Magicians and many more.
Hoag was previously married to actor Vince Grant from 1998 until 2016. The mother of two has since tied the knot with Phillip Stone in February 2021.
Courtesy ThrowBack Cartoons!/YouTube; Mediapunch/Shutterstock
Since playing the only boy in the Piper family, Zimmerman appeared in 7th Heaven, That’s '70s Show and Lizzie McGuire.
He later moved on from acting and has since transitioned into photography and is the cocreator of a media company. He married his girlfriend, Becky, in 2020.
Courtesy ThrowBack Cartoons!/YouTube; Courtesy Joey Paul Zimmerman/Instagram
After playing Marnie's younger sister Sophie in Halloweentown, Roeske appeared in the next two sequels before retiring from acting.
She currently is a mixed martial arts teacher in Arizona.
Singer White/Ventura Valley Film/Kobal/Shutterstock; Courtesy Emily Roeske/Instagram
The actor behind the evil Kalabar has continued to act for both the big and small screen. Thomas has appeared in Bones, Pacific Rim, Life Unexpected, 90210, Zoo, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and various Hallmark TV movies.
Courtesy ThrowBack Cartoons!/YouTube; Michele Eve Sandberg/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Dyke, who is known for his role as Luke in Halloweentown, later voiced Arnold for two seasons on Hey Arnold! Following guest appearances in projects such as Gilmore Girls, The Amanda Show and Sliders, Dyke retired from acting.
He has previously confirmed that he would return for a potential Halloweentown revival if the rest of the cast were on board as well.
Courtesy ThrowBack Cartoons!/YouTube; Courtesy Phillip Van Dyke/Instagram
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