How ‘Practical Magic 2’ Traded Coupeville’s Coastline for English Castles and Studio Magic
Nearly three decades after ‘Practical Magic‘ turned a small Pacific Northwest town into a cult classic backdrop, the long awaited sequel has landed and it looks nothing like what longtime fans might expect. Nearly three decades after Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman first played sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, ‘Practical Magic 2’ brings the family back to the screen, taking the Owens family to a different real world filming backdrop. Instead of misty coastal towns in Washington state, the production packed up and crossed an entire ocean.
Production on the sequel took place in the UK during summer 2025, with Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire serving as a major production base and additional filming taking place around London. For a franchise so tied to its original setting, that is a significant shift, and it has fans wondering how the Owens family magic will translate to an entirely new visual world.
‘Practical Magic 2’ Filming Locations Move to England
Principal photography began around mid-July 2025, with Leavesden serving as the main production hub and additional filming taking place around London. Production on ‘Practical Magic 2’ was conducted in England, particularly in London, Hertfordshire, Essex, and Wiltshire. That is a far cry from the show’s original home base, and it signals just how different this sequel’s world will feel visually.
The Hertfordshire studio provided the production with soundstage space for the film’s more elaborate interiors and supernatural sequences, while location work expanded the world beyond the studio. The choice of Leavesden is notable too, since it is the same facility long associated with big budget franchise filmmaking. Fans who grew up on the original ‘Practical Magic’ aesthetic may find this new backdrop a jarring but intriguing departure.
Principal photography began on July 18, 2025, and wrapped on September 13, 2025, just under two months, across three distinct locations. That tight production window suggests a fairly streamlined shoot despite the international scope of the project.
Owens Sisters Head to Essex and Wiltshire for New Scenes
Beyond the studio work, the crew branched out to some genuinely striking real world sites. The filming unit also traveled to the ceremonial county of Essex, where they took over the Epping Ongar Railway and the St. Mary and All Saints Church on Church Lane near Abridge, in Lambourne. The port town of Harwich, located in Essex’s Tendring district, also served as a production location for ‘Practical Magic 2.’
The crew did not stop there. Cast and crew members also reportedly set up camp in and around Old Wardour Castle, a ruined fourteenth century castle in Tisbury, in the ceremonial county of Wiltshire.
Old Wardour Castle is hexagonal and was half destroyed in the Civil War when its own owner blew up the walls to evict a Parliamentary garrison, and it previously appeared in ‘Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.’ Now it hosts the Owens family curse instead, which feels fitting for a story steeped in generational secrets.
A Victorian house appears in a still from ‘Practical Magic 2,’ and IMDb’s filming location page lists London and Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Hertfordshire as filming locations for the sequel. The mix of gothic ruins, quiet English countryside, and controlled soundstage work paints a picture of a film that is leaning into atmosphere just as heavily as the original did, just through a different lens.
What Happened to the Original Coupeville Setting
For fans wondering whether the beloved Coupeville locations from the first film play any role this time, the answer is essentially no. The 1998 film was shot primarily in Coupeville, Washington, on Whidbey Island, with additional locations on San Juan Island and interior scenes filmed on a soundstage in Los Angeles. The Victorian mansion from the original was a custom built set constructed on San Juan Island, Washington, built on platforms because the production team was not permitted to dig into the leased land.
The Owens house was a grand gothic Victorian built specifically for the film on a bluff above Penn Cove in Coupeville, Washington, on Whidbey Island, and it does not exist anymore since it was dismantled after filming wrapped. What remains is the bluff, the view, and a small town that has never quite gotten over the whole thing, and now celebrates an annual Practically Magic Halloweekend every October.
Vogue reported that the production painted the Front Street buildings white to create a Cape Cod look, then restored them to their original colors after filming, with the Sedge Building housing the fictional Verbena Botanicals, Toby’s Tavern becoming the Catch and Fry, and the building now occupied by The Beary Scoop appearing as the barbershop. Those small physical traces are essentially all that is left connecting the sequel’s real world footprint to its predecessor.
Cast and Story Details Behind the New Setting
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as Sally and Gillian Owens, joined by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as the aunts, while new cast members include Joey King, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña, Solly McLeod, and Lee Pace as a mysterious newcomer. That blend of returning favorites and fresh faces mirrors the shift in location, keeping one foot in nostalgia while pushing the story somewhere new.
The story picks up twenty five years later, following the Owens family into a new multi generational crisis, a dark discovery about the origins of their magic and a curse that has haunted the bloodline for centuries. That premise explains the move overseas, since the Owens family travels to Europe following the origins of their curse, and the production followed the story there.
The film’s release date is listed as September 11, 2026 in the United States. Upon wrapping filming, Nicole Kidman took to social media and announced the conclusion of the shoot, stating that was a wrap on Practical Magic 2 and thanking the cast and crew for all their magic.
Given how dramatically the setting has shifted from a foggy island town to English castles and railways, do you think trading Coupeville’s coastline for the ruins of Old Wardour Castle will deepen the Owens family’s new curse storyline or will longtime fans miss the original’s small town charm too much to embrace it?
