Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock rear a new crop of witches played by Joey King and Maisie Williams — what could go wrong?

*Practical Magic 2 *ending explained: What happens to Sally, Gillian, and the next generation of Owens women?

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock rear a new crop of witches played by Joey King and Maisie Williams — what could go wrong?

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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September 11, 2026 9:20 a.m. ET

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock star in ‘Practical Magic 2’. Credit:

- *Practical Magic 2 *has finally been released, 28 years after the first film became an instant, cozy classic.

- The sequel sees Nicole Kidman’s Gillian Owens and Sandra Bullock’s Sally Owens rearing a new generation of witches, played by Joey King and Maisie Williams.

- The elder Owens team up with the occult academic Ian Wright (Lee Pace) in this transcontinental adventure, which sees several major character twists and a finale that’s both startling and comforting.

**This article contains spoilers for *Practical Magic 2*.**

Grab your tequila, limes, and ice — the Owens sisters are back in town.

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock created two of the most indelible characters in their respective catalogs with the release of *Practical Magic* in 1998. Directed by Griffin Dunne, the big-screen adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s 1995 novel of the same name revolved around Gillian (Kidman) and Sally (Bullock) Owens, sister witches living in one of the most charming houses ever committed to celluloid.

Cursed by their forebear Maria Owens to never love without their romantic partners meeting gruesome ends, the Owens women call upon their aunts, Frances (Stockard Channing) and Bridget (Dianne Wiest), and a coven of reluctant townswomen who once feared and loathed them, to vanquish the vengeful spirit of one of Gillian’s wild boyfriends (whom Sally was forced to kill).

That gets you up to speed on the first *Practical Magic*, save two major characters: Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip), Sally’s two young daughters, whose father Michael (Mark Feuerstein) falls victim to the tragic curse. Nearly 30 years later, these twentysomethings (don’t do the math) are almost all grown up, and the molten mantle of magic is ready to be passed on. Or is it?

Read on to discover where *Practical Magic 2** *meets the Owens, and where it leaves them off.

Stockard Channing, Sandra Bullock, Dianne Wiest, and Nicole Kidman in ‘Practical Magic 2’.

Where does Practical Magic 2 find the Owens women?

*Practical Magic *ends on a happy note: Bullock rides off into the metaphorical sunset with Aidan Quinn’s Gary Hallet, an Arizona investigator who tracks Gillian all the way to Massachusetts while working to solve her lover’s murder. “What about that pesky curse?” you might have found yourself asking upon subsequent rewatches. *Practical Magic 2 *director Susanne Bier and co-writers Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, and Kelly Marcel evidently asked themselves the same thing.

When *Practical Magic 2 *picks up, Gary has died, and Sally has closed the door on love for good. So hard, in fact, that she’s forbidden anyone from informing her daughters of their Wiccan birthrights. Sally and Gillian live together in sisterly bliss in that beautiful old house, the exterior of which was custom-built for the film on Washington’s San Juan Island. Kylie (Joey King), who clearly inherited Gillian’s free spirit, has grown up to be a “lover of all things wild,” Sally says in the film’s opening narration. Antonia (Maisie Williams), meanwhile, utilizes her mother’s headstrong will in her training to become a neurosurgeon.

Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, and Lee Pace in ‘Practical Magic 2’.

Everything’s as cute and cozy as ever until Aunt Bridget (nicknamed “Jet”) discovers a way to banish the Owens curse from the realm once and for all. The answer lies in a book that shocks any Owens who dares touch it, one that Jet leaves to Frances after she peacefully passes on. The family is rocked, but holds fast to each other. That is until Kylie defies the family commandment that Gillian puts this way: “We’re Owens women — love is our undoing.” The morning after Kylie confesses her love to the devoted Gideon (Xolo Maridueña), he’s hit by a car and sinks into a coma.

Kylie feels utterly betrayed by Sally for having put Gideon in harm’s way, not knowing the full extent of her powers or the curse they’re saddled with. So she hijacks Jet’s book and sets off for England on a quest to save his soul.

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What do Kylie, Sally, and Gillian discover in England?

Lee Pace, first of all. But that’s not the only rare find the Owens’ women come upon overseas. As Antonia and Frances tend to Gideon back home, Sally and Gillian seek out the brooding, occult academic Ian Wright (Pace) to help track Kylie down.

The clock is ticking, not just because Gideon may be straying further from the light, but because Kylie is unknowingly tampering with dark forces to save him. Frances tells her nieces that Kylie has a “left-handed book of shadows,” which basically means she’s screwed if she doesn’t know what she’s doing. And because of Sally’s vendetta against magic for the deaths of multiple husbands, her daughters know absolutely nothing about the old ways.

Maisie Williams and Joey King in ‘Practical Magic 2’.

Thankfully, Ian knows a lot more about them. Not only is he familiar with this kind of book, but he can also cast spells of his own. “It’s the 21st century; men can do anything women can do,” he snarks. He takes an instant liking to the totally closed-off Sally. And wouldn’t you know it, the secret to locating Kylie lies in Sally opening her heart back up to her powers.

Ian informs the sisters that Kylie isn’t merely stumbling into arcane rituals; someone is drawing her to the dark side.

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Sandra Bullock and Lee Pace in ‘Practical Magic 2’.

What is Thornfield, and why do the Owens women all flock there?

Kylie’s divinations lead her to a small English town called Thornfield. It seems quaint and unassuming enough, and when she starts poking around, she meets a jolly fellow named Tom Bailey (Solly McLeod) eager to help her in her quest.

Hot on Kylie’s tail, Sally, Gillian, and Ian arrive in Thornfield, which Ian turns out to know quite well. It’s the site of Lockland Manor, a pile of ruins that was once the stronghold of a powerful lord. Centuries ago, this lord raped a woman named Hannah, who gave birth to two daughters before she was burned at the stake. Her last name? Owens. One of those daughters was the magical Maria, progenitor of Sally, Gillian, Kylie, and Antonia’s bloodline. And the other would plant a powerless family tree that would eventually produce the secretly villainous Tom, bent on revenge for centuries of dispossession.

Ian saves the day yet again with his scholarly prowess, but Sally and Gillian begin to suspect he knows *too *much about every twist and turn in this tale. He was even Tom’s former teacher! It’s all too convenient, so they whack him. Sally knocks Ian out with a blunt object, and the sisters go roving through the overgrown woods separating them from Lockland Manor.

Sandra Bullock summoning her magic in ‘Practical Magic 2’.

Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Does Kylie survive her encounter with Tom?

Over in the crumbling core of Lockland Manor, Tom’s good-guy veneer slips as Kylie develops the same suspicions that led to Ian’s bludgeoning. Ian survived, thankfully, because he isn’t evil, and ends up playing a key role in Kylie’s rescue.

By the time Sally and Gillian arrive, Tom has attacked Kylie and tied her to the same stake where Hannah burned. “This is what you rejected, Sally Owens; now you can suffer together,” he barks at the sisters. Sally begs Gillian to run off and save herself, but Gillian refuses, delivering one of the film’s tearjerker lines: “Never. I will never leave you.”

The sisters recite their old mantra — “your blood, my blood, our blood” — and join their bleeding palms together to summon enough magic to defeat Tom, who has stabbed Kylie and stolen hers. “You came for the wrong family,” Sally warns, before the three Owens (with Ian’s coaching) reduce Tom to a pile of ashes.

Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock in ‘Practical Magic 2’.

How does Practical Magic 2 end?

Before the Owens leave England, Ian makes a bid for Sally’s heart. Though it’s now open to magic, it’s still closed to men. “What part of ‘death curse’ wasn’t clear?” she sarcastically asks in their final meeting before her trip back home.

Over in Massachusetts, Frances learns that only an Owens woman’s self-sacrifice can liberate all Owens women from the curse of lovelessness. So she joins her sister in the spirit realm, allowing Kylie to fall fearlessly back into love with a re-awakened Gideon.

A year passes, and magic is a part of the Owens’ daily life again. On the eve of Kylie’s wedding to Gideon, Sally teaches her girls to light candles by simply blowing on the wicks. “I wanted to be normal, but a life without magic is no life after all,” Sally notes in voiceover.

Now, time for the callbacks that wouldn’t have made sense during a transcontinental adventure. Sally and Gillian blend up some mean frozen margaritas — a Frances and Jet tradition — during the reception, which is held on the old house’s moonlit lawn. The family all dance to Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut,” even Ian, who is in Sally’s life to stay. At the film’s end, the elder generation spirit the girls up to the roof. You know what comes next.

The foursome recreate the first film’s most iconic image: They all pull out black umbrellas, pop them open, and leap off the edge. Sally and Gillian have fully inducted Kylie and Antonia into the family tradition, as they sail gracefully down to earth.

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