--- title: Happy Gilmore 2: Breaking Down That Major Death description: The opening minutes of the long-awaited Happy Gilmore sequel reveal a legacy character has been shockingly killed off. canonical: https://time.com/7305266/happy-gilmore-2-virginia-death/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-07-25T13:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T08:09:22.402Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Breaking Down That Shocking Opening Reveal in 'Happy Gilmore 2' og:description: The opening minutes of the long-awaited Happy Gilmore sequel reveal a legacy character has been shockingly killed off. og:url: https://time.com/7305266/happy-gilmore-2-virginia-death/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd22c19d68e46c9e/6998c89247fe51232255bef1/HG2-Adam-Sandler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6430 og:image:height: 3617 og:image:alt: Happy Gilmore 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Breaking Down That Shocking Opening Reveal in 'Happy Gilmore 2' twitter:description: The opening minutes of the long-awaited Happy Gilmore sequel reveal a legacy character has been shockingly killed off. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd22c19d68e46c9e/6998c89247fe51232255bef1/HG2-Adam-Sandler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Breaking Down That Shocking Opening Reveal in Happy Gilmore 2 > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Adam Sandler Says He Never Expected to Return to 'Happy Gilmore' [Watch (HLS stream): Adam Sandler Says He Never Expected to Return to 'Happy Gilmore'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BWi6wka3.m3u8) (3:52)  _Published 2025-07-25. On July 25, Netflix will release “Happy Gilmore 2,” one of the summer’s most anticipated movies. As Adam Sandler said in a recent interview, it’s something he never expected to do._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 25, 2025 1:00 PM UTC On July 25, Netflix will release “Happy Gilmore 2,” one of the summer’s most anticipated movies. As Adam Sandler said in a recent interview, it’s something he never expected to do.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 25, 2025 1:00 PM UTC **_Warning: This post contains spoilers for Happy Gilmore 2._** Mere minutes into _Happy Gilmore 2_, the long-awaited sequel to [Adam Sandler's](https://time.com/6837014/spaceman-review-netflix-adam-sandler/) 1996 sports comedy classic, it's revealed that Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen), Happy's pro golf PR director love interest-turned-wife from the first movie, was killed when Happy accidentally hit her in the head with one of his uber-powerful drives. This tragic incident occurred years into Happy and Virginia's marriage and left the couple's five children—Gordie (Maxwell Jacob Friedman), Bobby (Philip Schneider), Wayne (Ethan Cutkosky), Terry (Conor Sherry), and Vienna (Sandler's real-life daughter Sunny Sandler)—without a mother. It also led to the downfall of Happy's golf career, which had thrived in the years following the original movie but ultimately resulted in a complete fall from grace when Happy gave up the game, blew all his money, and turned to alcohol to cope with his guilt and grief. As he laments in his opening voiceover, "I'd never been a big boozer, but alcohol was the only thing that helped me to forget what I'd done to the sweetest woman I'd ever known." Like its predecessor, _Happy Gilmore 2_ is an absurd and often over-the-top slapstick comedy. But as is the case with most Sandler films, it also contains moments of sincerity that ground it in reality. And the death of a beloved legacy character from the first movie certainly qualifies for that distinction.  Julie Bowen as Virginia Venit in Happy Gilmore 2. Netflix However, narratively speaking, Virginia's death makes sense and ends up being the catalyst that propels the story forward. Having lost the entirety of his golf earnings in addition to his now-late grandma's old house, Happy finds himself in a tight spot when he needs $300,000 to send his daughter to a fancy Paris ballet school so she can take full advantage of her dance talents. Naturally, the only way to make that much money in a short period of time is for him to try to get back in fighting form and rejoin the Tour Championship league, a decision that sets him on a crash course to face off with new villain Frank Manatee (Benny Safdie), the creator of a stunt-based golf association dubbed Maxi Golf. Virginia's death also mirrors that of Happy's father from the first movie, which was caused by an errant hockey slapshot and resulted in young Happy going to live with his grandma. Happy's father's untimely death was what led to Happy developing a short fuse, and his bond with his grandma was what first inspired him to take up the game of golf despite his distaste for the pretensions of the sport. We all know how that turned out. This time around, while Happy's grief over Virginia's death is his weak spot, his love for his family is also what keeps him going when he's close to giving up. First he just has to face off not just against Manatee but a host of familiar foes—and their progeny—on his second shot at golf glory. ## Transcript [00:00] I don't even think we ever thought about making a sequel was not even a. [00:04] If someone brought it up to us, [00:06] we were like, yeah, no, we're not going to do that. [00:08] But, um, there's no like moment that all of a sudden we went, [00:13] aha, let's do it. It just kind of happened. [00:16] The last couple of years we've been talking about happy. [00:21] We've been talking about it might be funny that he's kind of like, [00:25] down and out and didn't have a life of, like, [00:30] being on top and getting to, you know, [00:33] live that legendary life that he that he was a legend. [00:36] And then life hit him hard and he was back to struggling. [00:42] And so we were like, well, [00:43] that's actually that could be fun to write something like that. [00:46] And it kind of connected to our lives and this, [00:50] this age and, and wanting to make a full on comedy. [00:55] My name is Happy Gilmore. [00:58] 30 years ago, I decided to give golf a try. [01:02] But even when you're at the top of your game. [01:06] You can always shank one. [01:09] Happy Gilmore sucks. [01:11] You know, we were outlining the story together, [01:13] and then I remember we were just like, [01:15] we should watch the first one again, man, [01:17] because we're going off of our memory of of [01:20] so many things and hanging out with Carl Weathers and, [01:23] and Bob Barker and all that stuff. [01:26] And, and then we watched it and we were like, oh, wow. [01:29] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. It was a tone that we were like, [01:33] oh yeah, that's kind of the tone, man. [01:35] But we don't have the exact tone. [01:37] We have a little bit more reality in this one. [01:41] Uh, being a parent and and stuff like that. [01:45] But we try to keep the jokes as goofy as the first one. [01:50] It wouldn't have been worth doing if it couldn't be as funny as as the first one. [01:53] And obviously, when you do a sequel, [01:54] it's going to be compared so hard to the first one. [01:56] And, and uh, so, [01:58] so we needed to make it as funny as it was. [02:00] And looking back, watching it together was like, we didn't give a ****. [02:03] We just did joke after joke. [02:05] And I mean, it was a little made a little more sense than Billy Madison, [02:08] but like, we weren't afraid to to swing, swing, swing. [02:12] Happy Gilmore didn't have things flowing on the first film. [02:16] Check out the name tag, grandson. [02:19] You're in my world now. [02:21] I got you a little something there, pop. [02:27] Everyone is talking about the comeback. [02:30] In. [02:30] Happy Gilmore, happy Gilmore. [02:31] We didn't write Nicolas into the script. [02:33] We didn't think we were getting active. [02:34] We didn't want to ask them to to to have a no. You know what I mean? [02:38] And then somebody was I forget who was like, [02:40] we should ask him just because everybody else seems so excited to do it. [02:43] Uh, but we we never even imagined, [02:45] even if with all, you know, [02:47] the cultural heft of of Happy Gilmore, [02:50] that we get Jack Nicklaus to do it. [02:52] That was like we sat with Jack and his wife and and Trevino and all, [02:59] all these legends, and we were there for the whole day. [03:02] And Travis Kelce was there that day and Bad Bunny [03:05] and it was just so many funny, cool people around. [03:09] But I'll tell you, [03:10] having a conversation with Jack Nicklaus, [03:13] somebody that your father loved and, [03:16] and the fact that it kind of like, [03:18] felt like when your dad was watching Johnny Carson, [03:21] like your dad was buddies. [03:24] That was his kind of buddy. [03:26] Johnny Carson and Jack. [03:27] In the daytime, it was Jack Nicklaus. [03:29] Then all of a sudden we're sitting and talking to Nicklaus and he's telling us stories. [03:32] I've been watching you play Mister Gilmore. So inspiring. [03:35] My dad loved you, man. [03:37] *******. [03:39] Bingo. 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