Julie Bowen Says She Didn’t Expect To Make A Comeback In “Happy Gilmore 2”

Julie Bowen was just as surprised as the rest of us to find herself back in the world of Happy Gilmore. Nearly three decades after playing Virginia Venit, the sharp, no-nonsense PR director who fell for Adam Sandler’s chaotic golf hero, the Modern Family star is returning for Happy Gilmore 2 and she can hardly believe it herself.
“I didn’t think they’d bring me back at all,” Julie confessed during a recent chat on the Inside of You podcast. “I mean, who am I supposed to be? He’s got to have a younger woman in this one.” At 55, she assumed Hollywood would do what Hollywood often does: cast someone 20 years younger and call it progress.
Julie even joked to The Hollywood Reporter that she fully expected Happy to be paired with a “little bitty cart girl” this time around. Her own teenage son, Oliver, even added fuel to that fire when he claimed he saw a rumor that Sydney Sweeney was stepping in as Happy’s new love interest. Julie’s reaction? “I’m hurt—and I so respect that move.”
But plot twist: the producers didn’t go that route. Instead, they brought Julie back and gave her a meaningful update. In the sequel’s trailer, it’s revealed that Virginia and Happy actually started a family together. Her part in the film might not be huge, but Adam wasn’t having her downplay it.
“Adam’s like, ‘Stop saying that. You’re the heart of the movie,’” she shared, clearly touched by the support from her longtime friend and co-star.
Looking back on her first audition for the original Happy Gilmore in 1996, Julie said she was convinced they were looking for someone “aggressively sexy.” She remembered reading the part alongside a group of women who definitely brought that energy and thinking she didn’t stand a chance.
“I read and they were relieved. They were visibly relieved,” Julie recalled. “I go, ‘What’s going on?’ They’re like, ‘Yeah, some of these girls are just so aggressively sexy.’ And I was like, ‘That’s a bad thing?’”
But her take on Virginia, the cool, grounded counterbalance to Happy’s golf-club-swinging chaos, won everyone over. She became a fan favorite and a surprising icon in a comedy that’s stood the test of time.