Practical Magic 2: What We Know About The Supernatural Comedy Sequel

It looks like, after more than two decades, the magic has not run out yet. It was in early June 2024 when Warner Bros. announced that a sequel to 1998’s Practical Magic is in the works, which makes us wonder what sort of mystical mischief the enchanted Owens Sisters are up to now. Well, we, unfortunately, cannot simply wave a magic wand be able to tell you everything there is to know about Practical Magic 2, but it will not take much of a spell to give you the scoop on what we know so far.

As Practical Magic 2 is only now in the early stages of development, there is currently no release date to report. Securing a spot on the upcoming 2024 movies schedule would take a whole coven’s worth of magic to happen, but the chances of winding up on our upcoming 2025 movies schedule are not too slim.

There have been many examples of sequels released decades after their predecessors that ended up recasting the main roles or even going on without them, such as when Tom Hardy succeeded Mel Gibson in the title role of 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road or when none of the younger members of the Hocus Pocus cast returned for Disney+’s sequel. However, that will not be the case with Practical Magic 2, which will see both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprising their roles.

Kidman confirmed that she and her fellow Oscar-winning co-star are coming back for the sequel when speaking to People while promoting her 2024 Netflix original movie, A Family Affair. She then added, “There’s a lot more to tell…” but did not tell anymore. In fact, when asked what the story would be this time, she replied, “You’ll have to ask Sandy.” Speaking of which, this will mark the first time the actors have worked together since the original film.

The original Practical Magic is a not-so-scary movie about witches from director Griffin Dunne and based on a 1995 novel by Alice Hoffman. The 1998 dramedy follows Sally (Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Kidman), who come from a long line of spellcasters — including their aunts, Frances (Stockard Channing) and “Jet” (Dianne Wiest) — and face life-long prejudice from the locals over it. However, the worst struggles in their lives are the result of a curse inadvertently put on their family by an ancestor, causing any man an Owens woman falls in love with to eventually suffer a tragic fate.

SPOILER ALERT for anyone who has not yet seen it, but the film ends with Sally and Gillian, after successfully exorcising the spirit of her abusive ex from Gillian’s body, breaking the family curse with the help of townswomen who have finally come to accept them into the community. So, with the main conflict resolved, it is anybody’s guess for now what sort of witchy hijinks the Owens will be getting into this time in Practical Magic 2. Perhaps it could involve a new curse that somehow affects Sally’s daughters, Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip)

Practical Magic 2 actually marks the fourth time that a follow-up to the original film was put into development. According to Variety, in 2004, CBS produced a pilot for a series called Sudbury — starring Kim Delaney as Sally and Jeri Ryan as Gillian — that was ultimately not picked up.

Six years later, THR reported that Freeform (when it was still called ABC Family) was brewing a reboot of the original film which never ended up happening either. Most recently, a 2019 article from Variety said that a television series called Rules of Magic — following a young Frances and Jet in 1960s New York — was being developed for Max (when it was still called HBO Max), but it never came to fruition. Perhaps Bullock and Kidman’s direct involvement with this feature-length sequel will break the curse.

Bullock and Kidman are doing more than just reprising their roles as the Owens Sisters in Practical Magic 2. The actors have also signed on as producers for the sequel.

Bullock’s history as a producer also dates back to 1998 — but with her more grounded romantic dramedy, Hope Floats — and also includes the Miss Congeniality movies, the ABC sitcom George Lopez, 2018’s Bird Box (one of the best thrillers on Netflix), and The Lost City. Kidman first produced movies in 2003 with In the Cut, followed by the likes of Rabbit Hole and The Family Fang, before primarily backing TV projects like her HBO hit Big Little Lies, Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers, and, most recently, Expats from Amazon Prime.

Handling screenwriting duties for Practical Magic 2 is someone who was also involved with the original film: Akiva Goldsman. He collaborated with Robin Swicord and Adam Brooks on the adaptation of Hoffman’s book.

Goldsman is one of the most accomplished Hollywood writers of his time, having earned an Academy Award in 2002 for his screenplay for the Best Picture Oscar winner, A Beautiful Mind — one of his several collaborations with Ron Howard, including Cinderella Man and The Da Vinci Code. He also known for penning both of Joel Schumacher’s live-action Batman movies, developing Max’s Titans series and Paramount+’s Star Trek: Picard, and many other notable projects.