The Bewitchers 2: why Evan Rachel Wood was ousted from the sequel

Evan Rachel Wood has not been called back to reprise her role as Kylie Owens in the Bewitchers sequel. Director Susanne Bier explains why the character was ultimately recast.

Abracadabra! Change of actress!

In The Bewitchers 2which is released today in cinemas in France, Evan Rachel Wood has been replaced! The star of Westworld who played Sandra Bullock’s daughter in the first part of 1998, is replaced by Joey King.

The revelation of Kissing Booth (on Netflix), aged 27, takes over the role of Kylie Owens, while the 39-year-old actress is ousted. And it was precisely an age problem that pushed the director, Susanne Bier, not to call on Evan Rachel Wood:

“Sally Owens’ daughters had to be a certain age in this sequel: in the story, they are literally just out of college! And with Joey and Maisie, it just seemed perfect…”

In The BewitchersKylie and her sister Antonia are the daughters of Sally Owens, the character played by Sandra Bullock. For this sequel, the two young women have just finished their university studies. A narrative choice which therefore pushed the production to look for younger actresses.

Evan Rachel Wood thus lost her role to Joey King, while Alexandra Artrip, who played Antonia in 1998, gave way to Maisie Williams (from Game of Thrones).

In an interview given to The Hollywood ReporterJoey King revealed that he spoke with Evan Rachel Wood to get his blessing:

“I was just so grateful for the support she showed me and the rest of the cast. Evan is so talented and gorgeous, and she made this role so special when she was a young girl. I’m very grateful to be able to play Kylie at this age, but I love Evan so much and I’m very grateful for his kind words and for the exchange we had.”

Except that Evan Rachel Wood obviously did not experience this situation in the same way. She regrets having been left out of the future, without a word from her former colleagues. On Instagram, she still remembers that Joey King was polite enough to call her… unlike the others:

“I really appreciated that Joey King contacted me, because no one who worked on the original film did…“

The actress had already explained a few months earlier that she had found “sad” not to be invited back into The Bewitchers 2. “We were so connected to this team as kids, and so to not have the opportunity to return to this team and this house as adults and see all of this history in our eyes, it’s something that can’t be faked. I’m sad that it can’t exist, especially for the fans.”

She also specified that she had read the novel The Book of Magicof which the sequel is adapted. But The Bewitchers 2 having reshaped history, she admits that “wouldn’t have made sense to bring me back…“

The history of Bewitchers 2 takes place 25 years after the events of the first film. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprise their respective roles as Sally and Gillian Owens.

The film is inspired by the novel The Book of Magicpublished in 2021 by Alice Hoffman, already author of the book behind the first The Bewitcherspublished in 1995.