Practical Magic 2 will be out on September 18, and its teaser trailer dropped on Monday. Gosh, it feels like it was just yesterday that we heard rumors that Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman were “in talks” to bring the Owens sisters back to our screens. Now, we’re less than six months from this becoming a reality. After watching the teaser, I’m even more excited than I was when we heard that they’d begun filming a year ago and finished filming in September. Pass the salt, bitches!
PM2 is based on the fourth book in Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic series, The Book of Magic. There’s been a lot of casting news over the last year. The most notable was Evan Rachel Wood being recast by Joey King. Although he was never officially confirmed as being a part of the cast, fans still had hopes that Aidan Quinn, aka Detective Gary Hallett, would be back as Sally Owens’ love interest. Alas, he is nowhere to be seen in the trailer. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. During a red carpet appearance back in February, a reporter from an Irish radio station asked Quinn if he’d be returning for PM2. His response? Just like Wood, he wasn’t asked to come back.
The newly-released trailer for Practical Magic 2 saw the return of Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman’s Owens sisters, but fans were quick to notice one actor missing: Aidan Quinn, the love interest for Bullock’s Sally Owens in the 1998 original.
In a red carpet interview shared by Irish radio station SPIN 1038, the 67-year-old actor revealed why he will not reprise his role as Gary Hallett, the heterochromic detective (“one green eye and one blue”).
Asked if he will make an appearance in Practical Magic 2, Quinn said, “No, I wasn’t asked. I would have said yes, but I wasn’t asked.”
“Oh, yes, of course I would,” he then reiterated, when asked if he would have agreed to appear in the forthcoming sequel to the beloved 1998 fantasy film.
After the interviewer then joked “we need to get on to Nicole Kidman,” Quinn then said of the sequel’s casting, “Well, I think it’s already been done.”
“Oh, yeah, lovely, lovely,” Quinn said when asked if he had fond memories of filming. “They were both great to work with. Most of my stuff was with Sandy, but they were both phenomenal to work with. Yeah, we had a good time.”
Quinn is not the only actor who starred in the original Practical Magic who was not asked back for the forthcoming sequel. Last year, Evan Rachel Wood, who starred as Sally’s eldest daughter, revealed that she will not be returning to her witchy role because she was not asked to.
In June 2025, shortly after it was revealed that Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest are reprising their roles as the Owens sisters’ aunts, Wood, 38, explained why she will not appear in the sequel in a statement shared on Instagram Stories.
“I am getting asked about this a lot, so l’ll just clear it up now;I was not asked to come back and be in the #PracticalMagic sequel. l offered my services, even if it was one scene or one line,” she wrote at the time. “I was told they are re-casting. I am sorry to disappoint the fans. It was not in my control or my choice. I would have happily rejoined my sisters.”
Without spoiling The Book of Magic too much, Wood’s former character, Kylie, plays a big role in the book. I don’t have any theories as to why the role was recast other than production was trying to align with the character’s age. Kylie is a teenager in the book. As much as I like ERW, she’s 38, and this isn’t a WB show. I think Quinn’s situation is similar to ERW’s. Detective Gary is dead in The Book of Magic, and producers have said that the movie would be “faithful” to the book. Still, that’s never stopped Hollywood from taking creative liberties before. They could have filmed flashback scenes! I am really bummed that he and his character aren’t coming back in any capacity. My conspiracy theory/hope is that he did film a few cameos/shots and that he’s been sworn to secrecy to not reveal it. Either way, I’m really excited for Practical Magic 2.
Here’s the teaser trailer:
Photos credit: Ron Asadorian/Backgrid, Marion Curtis/StarPix for Warne Bros./INSTARimages