Cue your midnight margaritas, belladonna, and flipped pancakes, because a Practical Magic sequel is officially underway. From Hocus Pocus to Beetlejuice, millennials’ favorite Halloween movies have all gotten the sequel treatment. But Practical Magic, the 1998 fantasy film starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock as cursed sister-witches, is the one we’ve all been waiting for, the one that’s always on our minds. It’s so beloved, in fact, that even its stars manifested a sequel while the original was still in production. “You heard our spell,” Kidman said. We most certainly did.
As the full moon rises and the cauldron bubbles, here’s everything we know about the Practical Magic sequel.
Just like the original film, based on the 1995 novel of the same name, the sequel will derive from a Hoffman book. While Hoffman wrote two prequels following Practical Magic — 2017’s The Rules of Magic and 2020’s Magic Lessons — the new film will be adapted from the fourth installment, 2021’s The Book of Magic.
The two actresses will reprise their roles as sisters Gillian and Sally Owens, bound together by blood and their cursed taste in men. They’re also slated to co-produce alongside Denise Di Novi, who worked on the original. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman will also return (he wrote the original alongside Robin Swicord and Adam Brooks).
“I just love that we made something that was embraced this way — it’s so rare — and that we get to do it again, hopefully with an audience that embraces us a second time,” Kidman told us last year. “But c’mon, we are witches! We will work our magic.”
A release date was announced in May 2025, alongside a teaser in which Kidman and Bullock recited a charming spell: “Tooth of wolf and morning dew/Something old and something new/Let the spell begin to mix/Sept. 18, 2026.” Did it close with the acoustic intro to Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut”? You bet.
Susanne Bier, who previously worked on the Netflix film Bird Box (starring Bullock) and on the HBO series The Undoing and Netflix’s The Perfect Couple (both starring Kidman), is slated to direct the film. Griffin Dunne, who helmed the original Practical Magic, told Rolling Stone last year that he wasn’t going to direct it. “This should be directed by a woman,” he said. “I’m really curious to see what they do and what their take will be, and what they bring of themselves to directing the movie.”
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According to Variety, actress Joey King will star as Bullock’s daughter in the sequel. In the original, Sally Owens has two daughters, Antonia and Kylie (played by Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip), so it’s unclear which character King will be playing.
There are also question marks regarding the rest of the original cast, including Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as the aunts. We’re also unsure of Aidan Quinn, who played Sally’s love interest and ultimately broke the curse. But it’s unlikely; as producer Di Novi recently told Rolling Stone, his character dies in the Practical Magic book.
From Rolling Stone US
