Evan Rachel Wood played Sandra Bullock’s onscreen daughter as a child in ‘Practical Magic’; Joey King will play the character as a young woman in the sequel
Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Moviestore/Shutterstock
NEED TO KNOW
- Evan Rachel Wood expanded on her decision to publicly share that she was not asked to reprise her role from Practical Magic in the upcoming sequel
- Joey King will portray the character Wood played in the 1998 original movie
- Practical Magic 2 is in theaters Sept. 11
Evan Rachel Wood is sharing more about why she will not reprise her role from Practical Magic in Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock‘s forthcoming sequel.
Wood, 38, portrayed Bullock’s character’s daughter in the original 1998 movie, which stars Kidman, 59, and Bullock, 62, as Sally and Gillian Owens—sisters and witches descended from a fictional survivor of the Salem Witch Trials whose family is plagued with a curse that kills the men they fall in love with. Though actors like Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, who portrayed the Owens’ sisters’ aunts, are returning for the sequel, Wood shared in a July 2025 Instagram Stories post that she “was not asked to come back,” even though she “offered my services” to the project.
Joey King will play Kylie Owens, the character Wood portrayed as a child actor in the original movie. When Wood spoke with Entertainment Tonight at a Monday, July 27 premiere for her series The Shards, she suggested that Practical Magic 2 is “not following” the series of books written by author Alice Hoffman regarding her character’s storyline. (The sequel is adapted from Hoffman’s 2021 novel The Book of Magic, a sequel to the original Practical Magic novel.)
“I think in the book it would have made sense to bring me back,” she told the outlet. “I think in the way they’re redoing it and approaching it, it didn’t make sense. But it is sad because, you know, we bonded with that cast so much as children and so to miss out on the opportunity to look at that cast and look at that house as an adult and see the history in our eyes, is something that can’t be faked. So I’m sad that doesn’t get to exist, especially for the fans.”
“But I wish them all the best, and obviously wish Joey the best, and I hope she had a great time,” Wood added. “I still have really fond memories of being in the original.”
Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock
Practical Magic was just Wood’s ninth professional screen acting credit. The movie hit theaters shortly after Wood’s 11th birthday in 1998. She and Alexandra Artip portrayed Bullock’s onscreen daughters in the movie; in the sequel, Maisie Williams will play the character Artip portrayed in the earlier film.
When Wood previously spoke out about her exclusion from the sequel, she wrote on Instagram that she wanted to clarify that she was not in the movie because she was “getting asked” whether she would appear. “l offered my services, even if it was one scene or one line. I was told they are re-casting,” she wrote on Instagram Stories at that time. “I am sorry to disappoint the fans. It was not in my control or my choice. I would have happily rejoined my sisters.”
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Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Practical Magic 2 will mark Bullock’s first big screen appearance since 2022, when she starred in Bullet Train and The Lost City. A trailer for the movie released in June suggests that the younger Owens sisters will join the rest of their family in struggling with the curse that kills men they fall in love with.
The movie hits theaters Sept. 11.
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