In May 2024, Netflix announced the sequel to the 1996 sports comedy “Happy Gilmore,” starring Adam Sandler — but Julie Bowen figured her role as Virginia Venit, Happy’s love interest, had long since been retired to the clubhouse.
“I heard it was happening and I thought, ‘Well, I won’t be in it,’” Bowen confessed to The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday.
She admitted she wasn’t bitter about potentially being passed over. After all, it has been 30 years since the original teed off.
“He’s got a hottie. He’s got some little bitty on the side,” she joked, acknowledging Hollywood’s tendency to swap out veterans for younger talent.
(Left to right) Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, and Rich Eisen speak onstage during Netflix Tudum 2025 on May 31 in Inglewood, California.
Amy Sussman via Getty Images
When the news of the sequel became public, it was Bowen’s kids who alerted her to the news before she was “officially” asked to reprise her role.
“My now-18-year-old said, ‘Mom I hear they’re doing a sequel and he’s with Sydney Sweeney as a cart girl,’” she recalled.
Though “Euphoria” star Sweeney isn’t part of the project, Bowen admitted that the thought “hurt,” but she noted that she would have respected the choice.
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But Bowen got the news she didn’t see coming.
“When I got the call that I was actually in it, I was like, ‘Are you sure? Come on!’” she said.
In October, Bowen appeared on the daytime talk show “Sherri,” hosted by Sherri Shepherd, where she expressed her affection for working with Sandler — and shared that producers plan to “de-age” her for the role, a process she said she was curious to see in action.