Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are returning to the Owens family house, and the date is locked: September 11, 2026.

That’s one week ahead of the originally scheduled release. If you remember the 1998 original, you probably don’t need much convincing to show up.

The first film was the kind of thing you caught on a rainy Saturday afternoon, maybe more than once. Two sisters. A centuries-old curse. A crooked Victorian house in some foggy New England town. Midnight margaritas. Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing playing Aunt Jet and Aunt Franny like they were born into the roles. It wasn’t a blockbuster by any stretch, but it built something rare: a genuine, lasting devotion from the people who found it. Check the Wikipedia entry for the original film and you’ll see a movie that’s been quietly accumulating cultural weight for nearly 30 years.

Now the sequel gets a real shot at that audience.

Bullock and Kidman are back as Sally and Gillian Owens. Wiest and Channing are returning as those aunts, which is honestly the news that matters most to anyone who grew up on this movie. That the production didn’t just recast those roles says something. But it’s the younger half of the cast that’s been driving conversation: Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña, Solly McLeod, and Joey King all join the Owens world for this one.

King’s role is the one attracting the most attention by far. “The Hollywood Reporter” describes her character as “one of Bullock’s daughters,” a young woman who “discovers the dark family secrets and her own dark powers, plunging the family into a crisis.” That’s a serious dramatic engine for a sequel that’s already carrying 28 years of fan expectation. “The Hollywood Reporter’s” framing also implies Williams could be playing the other daughter, which would give the film its own pair of Owens sisters to carry the story forward, the way Bullock and Kidman did in 1998.

It won’t be a complete reunion, though.

Evan Rachel Wood, who played Sally’s older daughter Kylie back in 1998, confirmed she won’t be in the sequel. On Instagram, she didn’t mince words about it: she offered to return even for a single line, was told the production was recasting, and described it as not her choice. Fans who caught that original film when they were 11 or 13 years old noticed. It wasn’t the kind of statement anyone could easily scroll past.

Off set, Nicole Kidman’s personal life became a public thread running alongside the production. Her separation from Keith Urban became news around the time filming wrapped in 2024, and Kidman didn’t avoid the subject. In a conversation with Ariana Grande for “Interview Magazine,” Kidman said she felt “protected and loved” on set. That’s the kind of quote that lands differently once you know the context.

The plot details are still thin. No full synopsis has been officially released. What the production has confirmed is that the Owens family mythology continues, with King’s character at the center of whatever crisis is coming. The 1998 film took creative liberties with Alice Hoffman’s source material, so don’t expect this one to be a strict adaptation of anything from the books either. It’ll chart its own course.

That said, the bones are right. The core cast is intact. The aunts are back. The daughter storyline gives the sequel somewhere real to go, and King’s got the screen presence to carry that weight. Thirty years is a long wait for a return to this particular house, but September 11, 2026 is now the date.

Mark the calendar.