Halloweentown is a beloved Disney Channel original movie that’s been enjoyed by generations of children. Now, for its 25th anniversary, the cast of the classic Halloween film has reunited - but one thing about the all-grown-up cast seems different.
Over the weekend, some members of the original Halloweentown movie - which aired on Disney Channel back in October 1998 - gathered together in St Helens, Oregon, where the beloved children’s movie was filmed.
Kimberly J Brown, who played 13-year-old witch Marnie Piper in the film, took to Instagram on 22 October to share a photo with her former castmates: Joey Zimmerman, who portrayed her pesky brother Dylan; Emily Roeske, her younger sister Sophie; and Phillip Van Dyke who played Luke, a teen goblin who asked the town’s evil warlock Kalabar to make him look handsome.
“One thing I love about coming up to St Helen’s, OR is seeing old friends,” Brown captioned the sweet reunion post. “@jpaulzim, @officialemilyroeske and @phillvandyke and I had to take a pic before the day began!”
As it turns out, Van Dyke, now 39, didn’t need a magic spell to glow up all these years later. In the photo, he was seen towering over the rest of his Halloweentown co-stars, with his arm sleeve of tattoos on full display. Fans in the comments section immediately swooned over the former actor, while others were quick to point out that their love for Luke never wavered.
“Man and I thought I had a huge crush on Luke back then,” commented one Instagram user.
“Did Luke make another deal with Kalabar?!?” joked someone else.
Meanwhile on TikTok, one fan posted an entire video detailing her reaction when she realised it was Van Dyke standing next to the Halloweentown cast. “Marnie, aka Kimberly J Brown, posted a picture talking about meeting up with old friends,” she began the viral clip. “I was like: ‘Who the f*** is that in the corner?’”
“It’s motherf****ing Luke, y’all,” she said. “Oh my God, I’m shook.”
In the comments, one fan wrote: “I had a crush on Luke as a kid and now here I am, crush reignited.”
“When I say silver fox… this what I mean,” said someone else.
Van Dyke starred as Luke in the first two installments of Disney’s Halloweentown series, including Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge. The actor is also known for voicing lead character Arnold Shortman in the second season of Nickelodeon’s Hey Arnold! and appearing as 16-year-old Christopher Hayden in Gilmore Girls season three. He left Hollywood shortly after the second Halloweentown movie in 2001.
Speaking to Bustle in 2015, the San Francisco native revealed he’s been married to his wife Jennifer since December 2009 and they have two children: daughter Paris and son Flynn. In an interview with E! News in 2020, he expressed his interest in returning for another Halloweentown installment, but only if the rest of the cast also returned.
“You know what, I think I could be talked into it,” Van Dyke said. “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.”
While some Halloweentown co-stars have reunited over the years, two cast members have gone so far as to spark up a romance and even get engaged. Brown is currently engaged to actor Daniel Kountz, who played Kal in Halloweentown II. They first met in 2001 on the set of the second film series, but didn’t start dating until 2016. In June 2022, the pair announced that they were engaged.
