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Walt Disney Animation Studios just dropped a first look at Hexed (check out the trailer in the video above), and it’s instantly one of the upcoming Disney movies I’m very excited for. We’ve definitely seen our share of stories about young witches coming into their power like this, but if I were a kid right now, Hexed would become my whole personality. I’m talking about owning a backpack, Halloween costume, notebook… the works. With that being said, there is something about the movie I’m just not buying.
The trailer instantly brands its main character Billie as an outcast who doesn’t fit in at school. As she walks through the halls of what looks to be a prep school of some sort, people call her a “freak” and make fun of her appearance as the voiceover has her saying this:
My whole life I’ve felt like there was something wrong with me.
And, look, I know teenagers can suck sometimes, but I’m looking at her character design, and she looks too genuinely cool to have a storyline where no one likes her, in my opinion. I know I’m not so out of touch that punk rock isn’t still punk rock. Billie is the kind of character I would have not only idolized as a kid, but while she’s clearly different from her classmates, I think she’s a bit too polished to be the school freak.
On the other hand, I get why this is her characterization. The movie tells us right off the bat that Billie will discover she’s got magical powers and learn how to hone them in order to be “something more” than she ever thought she could be. I totally get why that would be the way into this story, but the whole time I watched this, I was thinking about how much I want her outfit and hair color, and I know I’m not alone.
Now, on the other hand, this is just a first look. We don’t fully know the context of Billie’s character setup, and why everyone thinks she’s such a “freak” might stem from a past of magical accidents at school or some other incident. Then again, I kind of wish Disney went for a character that’s not classically likable from an aesthetic standpoint if they wanted to explore this storyline. They could have leaned into that a bit more rather than making her look absolutely on trend.
And now with Hexed officially Disney’s fall release on the 2026 movie schedule, I can’t help but think about how Disney’s latest era has been less about movies about princesses and more focused on young women with magical powers, just in different contexts. In Frozen, Elsa has ice powers that she cannot control, and she learns to embrace them by accepting herself. Then there’s Moana, who is chosen by the ocean to complete an important quest and must rise to the occasion. In Encanto, Mirabel is the only member of her family not to have magical gifts, and the movie follows her as she discovers that her empathy is her greatest power. So, I'm looking forward to seeing how Hexed explores this.
Despite my nitpick, I think Hexed is going to be a ton of fun, and I’m hyped for another Walt Disney Animation original after their last release, Zootopia 2, and the next two Disney movies, Toy Story 5 and a live-action Moana. The movie is officially hitting theaters on November 25.
