Now You See Me 3 Director on Why Isla Fisher Returned After Missing Part 2

Director Ruben Fleischer recently addressed Isla Fisher‘s much-awaited return to the Now You See Me franchise in Now You See Me 3 after she didn’t appear in the second film. The 51-year-old filmmaker opened up about Fisher’s appearance in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t in a recent discussion, stating that her return helped in bridging the narrative gap that had opened due to her absence in the 2016 sequel.

Ruben Fleischer brought back Isla Fisher in Now You See Me 3 ‘to right the wrong’

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Fleischer revealed he was extremely enthusiastic about adding Fisher to the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t cast as it enabled him to “right the wrong.”

“One thing that I was particularly excited about was shoring up the previous two movies and making this one answer some questions that along the way got asked, like what happened to Henley? Why was she not in the second movie? And so it was really important to bring Isla Fisher back and to right the wrong,” the seasoned filmmaker said.

Nevertheless, bringing Isla Fisher back in Now You See Me 3 initially proved to be a conundrum with the creative team having “many discussions” to try and justify her return after such a prolonged absence.

Ultimately, the creative team behind the sequel decided to mix fiction with reality. “We kept it pretty true to life, because in reality, the reason that she wasn’t able to be in the second movie was that she was seven months pregnant when they were due to start filming,” Fleischer said.

He further added, “So when we were planning her backstory, we kind of just leaned into reality and said that she left because she had to raise a family, and she was sick of putting her life on the line as an assistant on a daily basis, and that she just wanted to settle down. She prioritized family.”

Now You See Me 3 premiered in theaters on 14 November 2025 and has performed above expectations at the box office in its first weekend.

Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on ComingSoon.