{"id":43709,"date":"2025-07-28T22:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T22:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/43709\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T22:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T22:58:10","slug":"happy-gilmore-2-director-julie-bowen-defend-virginias-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/43709\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Gilmore 2 Director, Julie Bowen Defend Virginia’s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This story discusses major plot developments in \u201cHappy Gilmore 2<\/a>,\u201d currently streaming on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHappy Gilmore\u201d fans got quite the shock when Adam Sandler<\/a>\u2018s long-awaited sequel finally hit Netflix over the weekend. Three minutes into the movie, Julie Bowen<\/a>\u2018s beloved Virginia Venit (who is married and shares five children with Sandler\u2019s Happy) is killed off during a freak accident. Happy has a bad shot during a golf tournament and the ball unexpectedly hits and kills Virginia, whose death then drives the sequel\u2019s plot. Fans expressed outrage on social media over the twist during \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u2019s\u201d opening streaming weekend on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I found out that I was killed on page 12, I started laughing,\u201d Bowen told People magazine<\/a>. \u201cI was on vacation with my family, and I had no wifi. I could barely read this thing. I only had my phone, and I was like, \u2018Am I seeing this right\u2019? And I was like, \u2018Oh, yeah, I\u2019m dead. And he kills me.\u2019 Then I just started laughing. I just started laughing and laughing, and Adam was trying to get through to me. I was on island with no wifi and barely any cell, and we finally connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI go, \u2018I don\u2019t care. It\u2019s great. Happy can\u2019t be happy,’\u201d Bowen added about her comfortability with her character being instantly killed off in the sequel.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d director Kyle Newacheck defended the decision to kill off Virginia, telling Slash Film<\/a>: \u201cThere\u2019s always a concern when you\u2019re playing with that type of darkness. But I don\u2019t know, I was never really concerned because it is the driving force [of the film]. If you pull that out, then what do you have? You don\u2019t have anything real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I first read the screenplay, [Virginia\u2019s death is] like page five, and I was glued when that happened,\u201d he added. \u201cSo I knew what that feeling felt like, and I knew that people could get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNewacheck also directed fans to the opening of the original \u201cHappy Gilmore,\u201d which started with Sandler\u2019s character watching his father get killed by a stray hockey puck.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s darkness in the first one,\u201d Newacheck said. \u201cThere\u2019s real dark humor. So I just felt it [was] fitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps fans are shocked by Virginia\u2019s death in \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d because Bowen was a major part of the sequel\u2019s press tour and was heavily featured in several trailers, which gave the impression that Virginia had a prominent role in the sequel. During an interview on the \u201cInside of You<\/a>\u201d podcast at the beginning of the summer, Bowen also explained she was certain she\u2019d be replaced as the love interest in \u201cHappy Gilmore 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t think they\u2019d bring me back at all,\u201d Bowen said. \u201cI mean, who am I supposed to be? He\u2019s got to have a younger woman in this one, \u2018Happy Gilmore 2.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt turns out \u201cHappy Gilmore 2\u201d did bring Bowen back, although it also killed her off. The sequel is now streaming on Netflix.<\/p>\n