After The Craft, The Witches, and Hocus Pocus, yet another witchy ’90s classic is now being brought up to date: Practical Magic, Griffin Dunne’s off-kilter 1998 comedy, based on the spooky page-turner of the same name by Alice Hoffman and starring none other than a pre-Miss Congeniality Sandra Bullock and a pre-Eyes Wide Shut Nicole Kidman.
In the original, the future Oscar winners played sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, the descendants of a long line of witches who become embroiled in a supernatural cover-up after the former accidentally kills the latter’s abusive ex-boyfriend (as embodied by Goran Višnjić) and then attempts to resurrect him. Back in 2019, it was reported that HBO Max was pursuing a Practical Magic spin-off series titled Rules of Magic, an adaptation of Hoffman’s prequel novel. Sadly, nothing seemed to come of it, but now fans of the cult favorite have even better news: per Variety, both Bullock and Kidman are in talks to return for a sequel instead—and, as of this week, we have a release date: September 18, 2026.
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The buzz first began to build on June 9, 2024, when a midnight TikTok announcement—a nod to the film’s “midnight margaritas” scene—revealed that Practical Magic was now available to stream on Max. But the real announcement, that Practical Magic 2 is officially in the works, came the following morning.
Akiva Goldsman, one of the co-writers of the original film’s script, is set to pen the screenplay this time around, while it’s expected that the two leading ladies (who can be heard in the teaser clip revealing the release date) will sign on as producers, too.
Naturally, we’re sure to be in for a long and agonizing wait before we learn plot details, but I have an even more pressing question in the meantime: as thrilled as I am at the prospect of seeing Bullock and Kidman back together for more spirited high jinks, what about the rest of the film’s cast, which—lest we forget—includes living legends Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest alongside Evan Rachel Wood? Surely this particular coven wouldn’t be complete without them….
