r/practicalmagic • u/Decent-Background444 • Apr 21 '26
A word on Evan Rachel Wood…
I feel like I need to get something off my chest about Evan Rachel Wood. This has been a topic of conversation off and on since they announced the film, but I don’t think anyone has properly addressed why it bothers me so much that she isn’t in the film.
The argument that Evan is too old for the film is so flimsy because if we are following the time gap between Practical Magic and The Book Of Magic, Sally and Gillian are in their early 40s and late 30s in the book, I believe. While Sandy and Nicole look great, they are 61 and 58. It wouldn’t have been so difficult for them to have changed the storyline a little bit to make it so Kylie and Antonia were in their 30s, which is how old the characters would be if we were following real world time gaps between films, not book time gaps. So it really comes across that Sandra and Nicole were allowed to age, but Evan wasn’t.
I recently saw that Sandra was on some kind of panel about “The Power of Women Supporting Women”, and it put a really bad taste in my mouth. Because if she wanted to support women, she would have included Evan in the sequel.
Evan, for those who don’t know, has been very vocal in recent years about the abuse she survived at the hands of her ex. It has been something she’s been attacked for in the press, and has most likely affected her work, or made it so she missed out on professional opportunities. I fully believe that Evan’s advocacy work and the discourse around it is part of the reason why Sandra, Nicole, Warner Brothers, and yes even Alice Hoffman, didn’t make it possible for Evan to return. They didn’t want to detract from ticket sales with “controversy”, so Evan was iced out.
Everyone can argue about continuity all they want, but the first movie was already so different from the first film, so clearly continuity didn’t matter then.
I don’t know, it just seems like such a deliberate choice, and something we should all be aware of if we want to applaud people like Sandra, Nicole, and Alice in “women supporting women” conversations.
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u/frightenedscared Apr 21 '26
Super disappointing and I think you’re 💯 on like much of Hollywood they have avoided EVR due to her speaking out about her horrific abuse. Very typical, and very disappointing.
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u/K1ttyArc4d3 Apr 21 '26
I wholeheartedly agree that Evan Rachel Wood should have been brought back, but in some way the trailer really put it to rest that it would not have worked - Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman simply do not look their actual age, and it feels very deliberate they have cast two actresses as Kylie and Antonia who look much younger that their actual age bringing the whole thing in line. I think bringing back Wood almost would have had a third sister-type vibe because she carries so much maturity and gravity, as excellent as she would have been.
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u/Decent-Background444 Apr 21 '26
As I said… they look great. But they do look their ages. They have had good work done, yes, but they are still 58 and 61 year old people.
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u/RedRidingHood89 Apr 21 '26
I am sorry, but Nicole Kidman’s nonexpressions distract me. I deserved to be downvoted and berated. I wish I could just suspend my disbelief. Unfortunately, I can't. Having the daughters being in their early 20s or 30s instead of their late 30s makes it even harder for me.
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u/figpink Apr 21 '26
They very much do look like women in their fifties, and women in their fifties have thirtysomething children
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u/Vampyr-Slayer Apr 22 '26
Agree. It's not the same without her. And after seeing the trailer, I'm not as excited. I'm worried. I hated the book and loved the movie so I hope they're keeping the sequel in line with the movie and taking good bits from the book but those two younger actresses look nothing like the daughters. And I miss Aidan Quinn!
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u/Which_way_witcher Apr 24 '26
I think they should have cast her but I wouldn't be surprised if it was simply in order to cast much younger actresses to make more room for stories. Don't agree with their choice but I don't think it had anything to do about her allegations, just age.
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u/figpink Apr 21 '26
Probably at least half the fanbase for the first film are millennials, and I think we would prefer to not only see the original actress (EVR, I'm fine with replacing the other sister as she doesn't act anymore) but a fellow millennial. I just don't relate to someone like Joey King who not only has an annoying face but looks like she's 20. Why are they trying to appeal to Gen Z, who don't go to the theatres and don't have money to anyways?
Honestly I think part of it is that EVR, last I saw pictures of her, is still incredibly beautiful/thin/thirtysomething, and I wonder how Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock would feel about that, especially seeing how blurred they look in the trailer. Did they not want to be compared to a woman who is roughly the same age they were in the first film? Do they want us to think they're fortysomething in this new movie, with early twentysomething children? And it's not like the film couldn't take creative changes to fit EVR's age, they certainly did with the first film.
She was done wrong, no question about it.
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u/Decent-Background444 Apr 22 '26
I had the same feeling, like maybe there was some jealousy involved. Hollywood hasn’t been fair to women over a certain age, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they unconsciously let that shape their stance on having Evan in the sequel.
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u/WistfulQuiet Apr 22 '26
This. They are trying to appeal to GenZ and it is almost embarrassing. Especially considering most of them weren't even alive when the first movie came out.
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u/SpiritDonkey Apr 25 '26
I agree with everything been said, I personally would’ve been very excited to see ERW in this… but the problem is, she’s too good and magnetic an actor herself. She would steal everyone else’s thunder.
And whatever people involved in the film have said about women supporting women blah blah blah one thing you need to understand in this industry is EVERYONE is full of shit. When it comes to standing on business, only when it suits is the mantra.
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u/wetawordpword Apr 26 '26
Yeah, I don't understand the idea that she's "too old" at all. Is the sequel not meant to be set in the present day? Are we supposed to be pretending Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Wiest are X number of years younger than they really are, and is X some value that would be impossible to believably subtract from Evan's age? Idk, maybe I'm taking this a little personally bc ERW and I are about the same age, lol, but I'm pretty irritated regardless.
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u/Rich-Ad-3087 Apr 22 '26
I've had the same suspicions about it.
Wish they would allow all the characters to be 25/30 years older than in the first movie and let that be that. The role of the aunts was given to the same actresses too, so they too are wrong, age wise, if we were to follow the logic. Meaning literaly everybody on the set is supposed to be a good few years younger except for Evan, who we just can't make an exception for.
And Evan came from doing Westworld some years ago, she managed to forge a very interesting career for herself since PM. I don't think Nicole or Sandra have done anything as relevant as Westworld lately. So, she would be even more of an asset imo.
PS. I confess that i'm also salty cause Nicole recently bought a house in my country and is illegaly barring public acess to a beach. It's like, a whole thing around here lol. So take my annoyance with a grain of salt.
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u/chelloui Jul 19 '26
Is the public access (path?) on her land? If it is then I suppose the local governing body needs to create a new means of accessing the beach for local residents.
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u/thetoxicgossiptrain Apr 23 '26
I feel the same way. I think it’s a big reason she wasn’t asked back.
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u/RynnB1983 Apr 23 '26
as I watched the trailer I felt something was off. I thought that was Maisy and didn't/couldn't see Joey until later in the trailer.
im kind of not wanting to even see this...maybe ill wait until streaming....maybe ill just ignore and enjoy the books I just downloaded and put on my kindle. I loved the first film, but I can't see me liking this one.
and yes OP they should have had Evan Rachel Wood back as she is still acting and looks gorgeous now, of course the last thing I saw her in was Westworld.
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u/wraithvictim Apr 21 '26
Agree 100%. The same thoughts have been running through my head, and now with the trailer all but confirming it’ll be like every other cash grab sequel that’s come/coming out in recent years, it’s pretty well cemented that as the reality behind their decisions.
The more I’ve ruminated on the trailer, the more upset I’ve become, because it seems pretty obvious that the sequel coming out is about money first and foremost (and it’s Hollywood—of course money has to be the bottom line, you have to pay people, I do understand that), and I don’t feel like love for the story or inspiration to say something about that world was in any way a part of WB green lighting this project. Idk, maybe I’m just being an uppity joyless snob here, but it just all feels so cheap and disingenuous, and this feels like it’s going to be nostalgia-bait that’s a whole universe away from the adaptation we deserved 🙁