The Now You See Me: Now You Don’t director addresses the return of the Horseman. Just released this past weekend, the film is the third movie in the Now You See Me franchise. It comes nearly a decade after the release of Now You See Me 2.
There are a lot of familiar faces in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, including the four main Horseman: J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), Merritt McKinny (Woody Harrelson), and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher). The returning stars feature alongside a cast that includes franchise newcomers Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt, and Justice Smith.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, director Ruben Fleischer and actor Fisher explain the moment that unites Henley with Lizzy Caplan’s Lula May. Fisher revealed that the nature of the moment, where it is shown that Henley and Lula know each other, was actually her idea.
Both her and Fleischer realized that two female magicians would likely have crossed paths. The director noted how this “calls out the sort of male-dominated magic world.” Check out the full quotes below:
Ruben Fleischer: I am so glad that we were able to feature both women because they’re both incredible actors and both so funny and so talented.
I love that moment when Jesse’s character says, ‘You two knew each other?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, how many female magicians do you think there are in the world? And the fact that there’s three of us in the room right now is kind of blowing my mind.’ It really just kind of calls out the sort of male-dominated magic world, but also I think it gives them power and that they have a relationship independent of the Horsemen, which no one else was expecting.
Isla Fisher: I said, ‘There’s no way that I wouldn’t know her if she’s a magician and I’m a magician, and it should be that when my character Henley left, that I should have said use Lula because I can’t come on the road.’ And that was just so much fun. Lizzy and I had worked together on Bachelorette, and so obviously, we have a total laugh. It was quite fun.
Fisher did not show up in Now You See Me 2 in 2016. This was due to her real-life pregnancy, which prevented her from being on set during the required schedule. The team instead decided to introduce Lula as a sort of stand-in female character in that film.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t really improves on this ratio, by including both Lula and Henley. It also has another female character, June, who is a young magician. June is the third magician referenced in Fleischer’s quote.
Beyond that, one of the main antagonists of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is the matriarch of a diamond company, Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike). This makes the film, overall, more female-centric than the other installments.
In a different part of the interview, Fleischer mentioned that uniting Lula and Henley was an attempt at “righting the wrongs of the past” for the thriller franchise. The first two installments had taken this male-dominated world and leaned into it, making most of the main characters men. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t shifts this.
In doing so, the film also allows for a wider range of characters from previous installments to come back into play. Rather than ditching Lula for the return of Fisher, they continue her storyline while also bringing Henley back over a decade. This makes Now You See Me: Now You Don’t have strong fan service while also including more women.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t
4/10
- Release Date
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November 12, 2025
- Runtime
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112 minutes
- Director
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Ruben Fleischer
- Writers
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Rhett Reese, Seth Grahame-Smith, Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, Eric Warren Singer, Boaz Yakin, Edward Ricourt
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Jesse Eisenberg
J. Daniel Atlas
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Woody Harrelson
Merritt McKinney