Angelina Jolie is back as the Mistress of All Evil in the latest trailer for Disney’s Maleficent sequel, where her motherly instincts are getting challenged by a new queen—played by Michelle Pfeiffer—who’s not here to mess around.
In this follow-up to Disney’s Wicked-style take on Sleeping Beauty, Jolie returns in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil as the titular dark fairy who was abused and scorned by the human world – specifically, King Stefan (Sharlto Copley, who, like a lot of the cast in the first movie, is not returning for this film).
This led her to curse his daughter, Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning), but Maleficent eventually grew to love the young woman and became her surrogate mother.
The sequel starts with Aurora getting engaged to Prince Phillip (played by Brenton Thwaites in the first film, but recast with Harris Dickinson for Mistress of Evil) and getting ready to join his family, with Queen Ingrith (Pfeiffer) ready to take Maleficent’s place as a “proper mother figure.”
Not only does this threaten Maleficent’s place in Aurora’s life, but it also hints at the queen’s much-darker agenda regarding the moors and its magical creatures. Will Maleficent choose to stand by her surrogate daughter, or will she choose the magical creatures who may need her more? This includes some creatures who look suspiciously like Maleficent herself. Plot twist!
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which also stars Ed Skrein and Chiwetel Ejiofor (a busy Disney time for the actor, given his appearance in the upcoming Lion King remake) in a currently undisclosed roles, comes out October 17.