I rewatched this with my little sister last night and I really don’t get why they did it.

I know they were desperately trying to launch Sara Paxton then. But it would’ve honestly worked fine to just cast her as young Debbie Reynolds. In that re-watch, if anything, I felt like it was more confusing for little kids that she played both Marnie and Agatha.

I always think about how it must have been being Debbie Reynolds or one of the other actors too - all showing up and reuniting on set and the main actor is just not there and replaced by someone else.

Especially given they were churning out literally one a month.

Probably taking too adult view on it but I did always think it would have been interesting contrasting them more. Like the first film implies how much of a natural talent Sophie has. Always thought it’d be neat to juxtapose her and the opportunity to grow up knowing and training in magic versus Marnie who was very late to it all.

Also always thought it’d be interesting to get the backstory on why the mom hated magic so much - unless they did and I missed it. Beyond just the vibes of being a mortal and working for what you get. Internally I always head canon-ed that magic was involved in the dad’s death or that they got shunned for their relationship.