Disney prepares ‘Disney’s Hexed’ as a mother-daughter story centered on communication and control

Disney is rolling out a new original animated feature built around a simple premise with big emotional ambitions: the strongest magic in its latest film, Disney’s Hexed, may be how a mother and daughter learn to see each other clearly. In a newly released look at the film, Walt Disney Animation Studios describes Hexed as an all-new journey to a realm of witches that begins in an ordinary suburb and quickly turns into a confrontation with the family secrets that shaped the mother’s protective instincts and the daughter’s sense of being misunderstood.

At the center is Billie Doe, a 16-year-old who is “impulsive, misunderstood, and unconventional,” and whose story, Disney says, unfolds through her discovery that she has secret magical abilities. Once Billie’s powers emerge, she is transported from the everyday world to the magical realm of Hexe. The twist, however, is personal rather than purely fantastical: her mother, Alice, has suppressed Billie’s abilities since childhood, and Alice follows her to Hexe as their relationship is forced into the same strange world they have been trying to navigate separately.

The creative team, according to the studio, intentionally shaped the film as a mother-daughter narrative rather than a conventional magical adventure where the relationship is incidental. Oscar-winning Chief Creative Officer Jared Bush, who co-wrote the screenplay, said the filmmakers came to understand the feature “wanted to be a mother-daughter story” and that the goal was to ensure the relationship was “actually the star of the film.” Dana Ledoux Miller, also a writer, said the writing process focused on creating a blend of humor and genuine emotion, with the aim that audiences would laugh and “feel something” while the story tracked those emotional targets.

Disney’s behind-the-scenes comments emphasize that the movie’s dialogue, pacing, and dramatic choices were treated as a credibility exercise, not just a storytelling flourish. Bush described a development process of repeated emotional testing, asking whether the scenes feel true to life and whether the audience will believe the characters as events escalate. He acknowledged that even when the story structure “math checks,” the experience can still fall short, and he described the bond between Alice and Billie as the film’s guiding “North Star” once the team worked through why their communication lines were unclear.

While the film is comedic and fantastical, Disney says the relationship tug-of-war ultimately decides whose perspective the audience follows. Early in development, the filmmakers reportedly found themselves empathizing with Alice, including a struggle over whether the story might become “her story instead of Billie's.” The final choice kept the narrative from Billie's point of view, a decision the studio says required remembering how those feelings take shape during adolescence so the audience can “understand Billie deeply,” even as her mother’s rules appear justified and then questioned.

The studio is also leaning into how the fantasy system supports the family metaphor. Disney describes magic in Hexe as originating from within the individual, meaning each spell carries the personality and identity of the witch or wizard casting it. That principle shows up visually, including the tactile depiction of Billie’s magic described by co-director Jason Hand, who said the film uses details like “pop sparks” that appear when Billie raises her hands and then fizzle out. Hand and the team say this guardrail helped them create distinct magic “from the color to how it’s represented,” giving different characters individuality rather than treating magic as a uniform effect.

Disney’s Hexed also nods to classic Disney Animation aesthetics while insisting those references serve as moments of recognition rather than plot infrastructure. Roy Conli, a producer who said Jodie Foster’s character anchors darker edges of the realm, pointed to recurring “fun” elements such as a feather quill pen named Quill and a magical journal named Quire that greet Billie at the entry to Hexe. The studio character roster further includes Beef Roger Crummchuk, a reclusive three-eyed cat voiced by Walton Goggins, and Bucket, an enchanted cauldron that does not speak, alongside Queen Celeste, voiced by Jodie Foster, who identifies Billie as having a unique role in retaining power across Hexe.

In terms of casting and production, Disney says Hailee Steinfeld voices Billie and Rashida Jones voices Alice. The film is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand, co-directed by Josie Trinidad, and produced by Roy Conli and Yvett Merino, with writing from Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller. Disney’s studio notes describe a development effort that took years, and it places the theatrical opening on Wednesday, November 25, 2026, with the film opening exclusively in theaters.

What remains uncertain, at least from the studio materials published alongside the announcements, is how the film’s family-centered approach will translate into the broader box-office and audience metrics that matter to Disney’s film slate. The description does not provide any performance expectations, budget details, marketing targets, or comparative references to earlier Disney Animation releases. It also does not discuss how the story elements around suppressed magic and competing power dynamics in Hexe might influence critical reception or demographic reach beyond the filmmakers’ stated hopes that both parents and children will connect to the emotional arc.

Still, the storyline Disney is foregrounding suggests the company is continuing to seek emotional differentiation in its theatrical animation strategy, using fantasy mechanics to externalize real-world tensions. For investors and industry watchers, the next key indicates to track will be audience and critic responses after opening week, the strength of word-of-mouth around the mother-daughter relationship, and how the film competes during the late-November release window that often tests theatrical momentum for family fare.