A Nightmare Before Christmas Sequel Exists But Most Fans Never Heard Of It

A financially successful story never ends. In the case of Disney's 1993 stop-motion classic "The Nightmare Before Christmas," the story continues in a canonical novelized sequel called "Long Live the Pumpkin Queen." Released in 2022, and written by Shea Ernshaw, the book follows Sally (Catherine O'Hara), Jack Skellington's (Chris Sarandon, Danny Elfman) rag doll bride, as she comes to terms with her new role as the Pumpkin Queen and singlehandedly saves the holiday-themed towns from destruction. In an exclusive interview with The Disinsider, Ernshaw explained that Disney has wanted to flesh out the world of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" for a long time, specifically with a Sally POV, but that Tim Burton was reluctant to provide the rights until recently.

"Long Live the Pumpkin Queen" currently enjoys approximately 5,500 reviews on Amazon, almost all of which are overwhelmingly positive, as the site's aggregate score places Ernshaw's tale at 4.8 out of 5 stars. The Disney novel concurrently features approximately 16,000 reviews on Goodreads, where it scores 3.9 out of 5 stars. It's easy to dismiss sequels that occur in a separate medium because, on some level, we consider them less than canon. But Ernshaw's novel is just the tip of the iceberg. There are still more stories that Disney wanted to share about Halloweentown.

Shea Ernshaw's "Long Live the Pumpkin Queen" is an immediate followup to "The Nightmare Before Christmas" but there's also a prequel graphic novel. "The Battle for Pumpkin King," written by Dan Conner and illustrated by Deborah Allo and Robert Scalia, was released in September 2023 and follows a young Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie (Ken Page), who was the hardest character for Disney to design, as they test the limits of their friendship in a contest for who will become the next Pumpkin King. The ending is unsurprising, as Jack boasts the Pumpkin King title in the 1993 film, but the graphic novel provides more character development for both the eventual Pumpkin King and Oogie Boogie, himself.

Also, in 2018, Disney published "Zero's Journey," a 20-issue comic series written by Stuart J. Levy and illustrated by Kei Ishiyama, David Hutchison, and Dan Connor, that follows Jack's ghostly pup on a whacky misadventure where he gets lost and needs help finding his way back to Halloweentown. Disney must have appreciated the medium because, in 2022, another comic series began publication under the title "Mirror Moon." Written by Mallory Reeves and illustrated by Nataliya Torretta, the five single-issue series follows Sally as she becomes Jack's substitute master of Halloween ceremonies.