Now You See Me 3’s Twist Ending Left One Of Its Stars “So Confused”

Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t.A Now You See Me: Now You Don’t star was initially left confused by the movie’s twist ending. The third installment in the franchise brings back J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) and all the other Horsemen while introducing a new generation of magicians that includes June McClure (Ariana Greenblatt), Bosco Leroy (Dominic Sessa), and Charlie (Justice Smith).

The ending to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t reveals that Smith’s character is Charlie Vanderberg. He worked with June and Bosco to pull off an elaborate trick that involved reuniting the Horsemen and bringing down Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike) and her exploitative empire.

In an interview with Ash Crossan for ScreenRant‘s cover story, Greenblatt explains how the ending confused her at first as she was unsure about what was real and what had been fake and had to reread the script more than once in order to gain clarity. Check out her comments below:

I remember the first time I read the script, I was so confused because I didn’t know what had been real and what had been fake. What was the truth, and what was a trick? I definitely had to read the script initially quite some times over just to kind of pick up what I’m actually supposed to be following along with; what was the performance, what was real, and what wasn’t. I think that definitely resonates in this movie to a large degree.

Isla Fisher, who returns to play Henley Reeves after being absent from Now You See Me 2, addresses how this is indicative of the way magic has changed over the years. Instead of magic being “mystical” as it used to be, it is about taking the audience along for the ride and seeing if they can figure it out.

I do think that modern magic is about a collaboration with the audience. It’s not like the olden days where magic was sort of mystical. It was a spiritual thing. Nowadays, people are in on it. They know they’re in on it, and they’re trying to be clever and guess it. That’s what’s cool, I think, about the script. We’re not dumbing it down for the audience. We’re sort of taking them on the ride as well. But we did some cool stunts with our clothes.

Greenblatt builds on Fisher’s comments by explaining how the director of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Ruben Fleischer, wanted all the magic to be practical. This involved the actors doing stunts with their clothes as they genuinely learned and rehearsed how to do various magic tricks.

We did. That was fun. I think Ruben’s main thing in this film was that he definitely wanted the magic to be practical. He had us really either learn the trick or rehearse the gag, so that whatever we were actually doing was happening in real life. He wanted to keep that part of it, which I really enjoyed. I thought that was the best part, for sure.

Greenblatt had the challenge of not only presenting June as a magician with impressive skills, but ultimately as someone who is in on Charlie’s plan the whole time and who is able to outsmart the Horsemen and Veronika. This made it all the more important for Greenblatt to fully distinguish what is real and what isn’t and to learn how to do some of the magic tricks herself.

The ending to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t also sees June, Bosco, and Charlie becoming part of The Eye and joining forces with the Horsemen. Between these developments and a fourth movie already confirmed to be in the works, Greenblatt will likely return as June in the next sequel. June has the opportunity to continue growing as a person and as a magician, all while navigating what is real and what isn’t in new, mind-bending ways.