Jeremy

Newpaper articles featuring Jeremy and Linda hanging around Sarah's bedroom mirror
PERFORMER	David Bowie
DEBUT	1986

Jeremy is the name given to the partner of Linda Williams, Sarah's mother. Jeremy's name is only given in the Labyrinth novelization by A. C. H. Smith, which also expands on his relationship with Linda and Sarah. Jeremy's role in the film, where he is played by David Bowie, is limited to appearing in photos on Sarah's scrapbook and vanity.

In the film

Sarah's scrapbook contains multiple newspaper clippings of Jeremy and her mother. The titles of several clippings suggest that Jeremy and Linda had an on-again, off-again relationship. The exact timeline of these clippings is unclear, but possibly establish that Jeremy and Linda were together prior to Linda marrying Sarah's father.

The film is ambiguous about Jeremy and his relationship with Sarah. After Jareth's defeat at the end of the film, Sarah can be seen removing photos with Jeremy from her vanity and placing them along with her music box and red book away in a drawer.

In the novelization

The novel provides more details about Jeremy, and his relationship with both Sarah's mother and Sarah herself. In the novel, it is established that Sarah admires Jeremy greatly:

“Why, she wondered for the trillionth time, does my stepmother always have to put on this performance when they go out in the evening? It was so hammy -- that was one of Sarah's favourite words, since she had heard her mother's costar, Jeremy, use it to put down another actor in the play they were doing -- "such a ragbag of over-the-top clichés". She remembered how Jeremy had sounded French when he said clichés, thrilling her with his sophistication. Why couldn't her stepmother find "a new way into the part?". Oh she loved the way in which Jeremy talked about other actors. She was so determined to become an actress herself, so that she could talk like that all the time.”

Jeremy is described as gossiping with Sarah about his fellow actors, and during one outing with Sarah and her mother, he faked drowning in a pool so convincingly that an alarm was raised.

Sarah describes Jeremy's physical appearance briefly, highlighting that he is handsome with blonde hair, and wears a golden chain around his neck. Sarah also describes her 15th birthday, where Jeremy and her mother took her out for dinner and a theatre show. While Linda gifted Sarah her music box, Jeremy gifted Sarah a pale blue evening gown, which she wore that evening. At the dinner, Jeremy danced with Sarah, and joked that they would be appearing in the gossip columns the next day.

Other appearances

In addition to the film and novel, Jeremy is mentioned in Volume 4 of Return to Labyrinth. As part of Jareth's attempt to spark Sarah's memories of the Labyrinth, Sarah witnesses a puppet show putting on a crude version of her childhood, including her parents' divorce. Puppet versions of Jeremy and Linda are shown, and when the puppet version of Sarah asks her mother not to leave her, the puppet Jeremy hits puppet Sarah in the head with a baseball bat, à la Punch and Judy.