The cast of The Craft: Legacy is led by four young women who adhere to 21st century standards of inclusive diversity. Originally released in 1996, The Craft remains a beloved feminist classic. The timeless line, "We are the weirdos, mister" is a motto for misfits and outcasts who choose to own, rather than shy away from, their righteous female power. Now, nearly 25 years later, Blumhouse's loose remake/continuation of the original story, The Craft: Legacy, seeks to tell a new story about four young witches navigating high school and their burgeoning womanhood in the 21st century.
Written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones, The Craft: Legacy stars a quartet of actresses as the leads, high school students who possess the magical power of witchcraft. Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna star in the new film, and they represent a more diverse and inclusive group of women than the original film, which starred Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True. While a still image of Balk briefly appears in the trailer (confirming the new film to be a continuation of the story from the original), it remains to be seen if any of the original witches will return for the new movie.
In contrast to the relative lack of diversity in the original film, The Craft: Legacy prides itself on featuring more Black, Latinx and trans representation in its leading roles. In the 1996 movie, True was the sole non-white leading actress, whereas The Craft: Legacy features Simone, a Black actress, and Luna, a trans Latina actress. We had the chance to visit the set of The Craft: Legacy back in late 2019, and spoke to the cast, as well as filmmaker Lister-Jones, who said, "It's really important for me to represent today's youth authentically. The first film was ahead of its time because it was intersectional in many ways, but I think including a trans voice in this group of women was very important to me."
The casting of Luna as Lordes can't help but seem like a shot across the bow towards J.K. Rowling's oft-criticized trans-exclusionary radical feminist views. The Harry Potter author has come under fire for tweets that target and attack the trans community, and the casting of a trans woman as a witch in The Craft: Legacy reinforces the film's support for the trans community. The sight of a trans woman using magic alongside cisgender women is a clear statement that trans women are women.
Luna said that her status as a trans woman isn't a central defining feature of her character: "I think me and my character are both on the same frequency, where we decide that being trans is just background. Me and her are very chill on that aspect." On the other hand, she also acknowledges how important this type of representation is for a movie aimed at school-aged girls: "I'm trans, and there's not that many trans women in film who aren't just a sex worker who gets killed. I'm doing this for the little girls who grew up and didn't have someone to look up to."
The Craft: Legacy, as its name attests, has a significant legacy to live up to. The original 90s film is still regarded as a timeless classic, even all these years later, and the new movie will need to be truly special in order to stand alongside its progenitor.
The Craft: Legacy releases October 28 on VOD.
