Why Disney's Hexed Character Design Sparks Heated Debate Among Fans

Back in August, Disney announced an exciting original animated movie coming in 2026. Hexed looked magical and intriguingly different, with the initial artwork showing a vibrant 2D fantasy world with a painterly aesthetic. Compared to recent Disney animations, the concept art looked like a Marc Chagall painting.

Now the animation giant has revealed a first glimpse of the actual character designs from the upcoming movie, and, well, they're not quite what some people had hoped for.

Design changes during production aren't uncommon – just check out how different some of the original Disney character designs were for some of its biggest movies. But Hexed is raising eyebrows because of how it seems to have changed in just eight months since the movie's existence was made public.

When Disney announced Hexed last year, it said the movie would be about “an awkward teenage boy and his Type-A mom” as they “discover that what makes him unusual, might just be magical powers that will turn their lives and a secret world of magic, upside down.”

Flash forward to the recent presentation at CinemaCon 2026 in Las Vegas, and the lead character has changed gender to become a teenage girl. Called Billie Doe, she will be voiced by Hailee Steinfeld (Gwen Stacy in the animated Spider-Verse movies). The 'Type-A mom' remains present, to be voiced by Rashida Jones.

Not shown in the post above, those attending were reportedly shown footage in which Billie received a personality test from a book and quill.

Some suspect the change in gender may have been made due to the poor reception of Elio, whose lead character was an 11-year-old boy. Elio did badly at the box office last year, but it seems a lot of Disney fans were intrigued by the potential originality of a movie about a boy witch, and a mum and son relationship.

"I was SO looking forward to this being about a BOY witch! Now we’re getting yet another girl coming of age movie like we don’t already have a thousand princess movies," one person complains on Instagram.

Some animation fans say the upcoming movie now sounds like a rehash of the cancelled Disney+ series The Owl House and the Halloweentown TV movies.

"Man, if only we had a show that has two seasons and multiple specials about a girl who wants to become a witch and is whisked away to a magical realm away from her uptight and single mother with no father figure. Oh wait..." one person writes.

The Owl House and Halloweentown aren't the only movies and series to have such a premise, which is a pretty classic teen isekai trope. But the other reason for the controversy is the art style, which looks so different from the concept art used to announce the movie last year.

The characters of Billie and Alice reflect the 3D animation style used for Elio, and most Disney animations since Chicken Little twenty years ago. I can see why fans are struggling to see the connection to the original imagery by the Spanish artist Lorelay Bove.

That's the nature of concept art: it's about exploration and imagination. Concept artists are tasked with visualising possibilities and sparking ideas. Early designs are often exaggeratedly stylised or experimental to help push creative boundaries.

Considering that Disney hasn't released a 2D animation since Winnie the Pooh in 2011, it was unlikely that it would change direction with Hexed. But it was the saturated colours and non-CGI look that got people so excited when the movie was announced. Perhaps Disney should hold off from sharing concept art until after a movie's released to avoid causing disappointment?

Directed by Josie Trinidad and Jason Hand, Hexed will be Disney’s 65th animated feature film. It will be released on 25 November.

For more magical animation coming before that, check out the trailer for DreamWorks' Forgotten Island. And don't miss the trailer for Coyote Vs ACME, the movie Warner Bros didn't want you to see.