Warning: Spoilers ahead for Beetlejuice 2!Beetlejuice 2's ending, the "ghost with the most" helps defeat his vengeful ex-wife, Delores, and Lydia's manipulator, Rory. Lydia is supposed to marry Rory, who has been exploiting her and her ability to communicate with the dead since the pair met. Though Betelgeuse assists in ending that potential marriage, the wedding between him and Lydia is stalled when Delores arrives.

Beetlejuice 2's new characters, Delores and Rory.

Beetlejuice 2's Handbook Revealed What Happened To Delores & Rory After They Were Eaten By The Sandworm

Rory Really Is Dead In The Beetlejuice Universe

Once Delores and Rory are eaten by the sandworm, Beetlejuice 2 doesn't dive deeper into their fate. Instead, Betelgeuse is relieved that he no longer needs to deal with his ex, while Lydia narrowly avoids marrying someone as sleazy as Rory. However, Tim Burton's sequel does reveal what happened to Delores and Rory. While Astrid is paging through the Handbook for the Recently Deceased at different points of the movie, she looks at the page on how to summon a sandworm. Not only does the book explain how to do so, which she follows for the movie's church scene, but the Handbook also reveals the fates of those eaten by a sandworm:

"Proceed with caution as Sandworms can be extremely dangerous, for both the Living and the Dead. If a Deceased Soul is eaten by a Sandworm, they will remain in the Afterlife. The same applies to the Living; they must live in the Afterlife as a million tiny particles."

While it can be assumed that Delores would have ended up back in the afterlife, the real question pointed to Rory, who is a member of the living before his encounter with the sandworm. Ending up dead in Beetlejuice's afterlife is one thing, but being forced to live in that realm as "a million tiny particles" is not the fate one could have predicted for a sandworm victim. Considering how awful he was to Lydia and the Deetz family in his manipulation and scheming, it's unlikely that anyone would become overwhelmed with guilt, even if they did know his true fate.

What Rory's Death Means For His Fate In The Afterlife (& Justin Theroux's Possible Beetlejuice 3 Return)

Rory's Arc Likely Came To An End In Beetlejuice 2

Considering how Beetlejuice 2 leaves questions unanswered regarding character fates, some may have hoped Justin Theroux's Rory could return in Beetlejuice 3 if the movie happens. With the Handbook's clarification, though, it seems unlikely that Rory can reappear if he's trapped in the afterlife as tiny floating particles rather than a ghost. The franchise may have ways to bring back Delia, Delores, and others from the afterlife alongside Betelgeuse, but another sequel would have to put another spin on Handbook rules for Theroux to reprise his role.