Disney Animation spent Monday doing what it does best in the fall: planting a flag on the holiday calendar. Walt Disney Animation Studios released a full trailer and a new poster for Hexed, its next original animated feature, and confirmed the film will arrive in U.S. theaters on November 25, 2026 — the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, one of the most valuable release slots on the family-movie calendar.
The film is an original magical coming-of-age story, and according to FirstShowing it stands as the 65th animated feature in the studio's history. That number matters. Disney Animation's recent run has leaned heavily on sequels and familiar worlds, so an entirely new story — new characters, new mythology, no franchise homework required — is a statement all by itself. The trailer sells brightness first: color, motion and wonder, with a suburban teenager's ordinary life cracking open into something much bigger.
A daughter with powers, a mother with caution
At the center of Hexed is Billie Doe, voiced by Hailee Steinfeld. Billie is impulsive and unconventional, and when she discovers she has secret magical abilities, those powers do not arrive gently. Once unleashed, they hurl her out of suburbia and into Hexe, a vast realm ruled by witches. It is the classic Disney setup turned inside out: the kid does not run away from home so much as get launched out of it by her own bloodline.
Billie's unwilling traveling companion is her mother, Alice, voiced by Rashida Jones. Where Billie is all instinct, Alice is careful and cautious, and the film pairs them as a team whether they like it or not. Together, mother and daughter dig into family mysteries that Disney says could change the world of witches altogether. That structure — a teenager learning who she is by learning who her mother really is — gives the adventure an emotional engine that runs underneath the spectacle, and it is easy to see why Steinfeld and Jones top the billing. Steinfeld brings the restless energy; Jones brings the dry, grounded counterweight.
A royal court worth the ticket
Ruling over Hexe is Queen Celeste, voiced by two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster — the kind of casting that tells you the film's power politics are meant to be taken seriously even in a family adventure. Monday's announcement added two more names in key roles. Henry Winkler joins as Nigel, an all-knowing potoo bird who holds powerful secrets about the magical world. Dan Stevens voices Hieronymous, Queen Celeste's Grand Councilor — described as blustering and self-important, which is precisely the energy Stevens does so well.
The supporting world is just as playful. Walton Goggins voices a three-eyed green cat named Beef Roger Crumbchuck, who forms an uneasy alliance with Billie and Alice. Tracey Ullman voices Ms. Quill, an enchanted feather quill, and Stephen Fry voices Elias Quire, a magical journal. A talking quill and a talking journal greeting a lost teenager in a witch realm is exactly the sort of invention Disney Animation trades in — everyday objects with opinions, guiding a hero who does not yet know the rules.
The cameo bench is deep
Beyond the main cast, Disney packed the call sheet with cameo voices: Drew McIntyre, Pat McAfee, Cheri Oteri, Kathy Najimy, Wayne Knight, Alan Tudyk, Randall Park, Rachel Dratch, Ariana Madix, Yvette Nicole Brown and Josh Dallas, among others. A WWE star and an ESPN host sharing a credits block with Disney Animation veterans is a very 2026 kind of ensemble, and it gives families a second game to play in the theater — spotting voices as they pop up.
Behind the camera, Hexed is directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn and Jason Hand, with Josie Trinidad as co-director. The screenplay comes from Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller. It is a creative team rooted in the modern Disney Animation story tradition, and the trailer reflects that: a personal story first, a magical world second, jokes that work for the adults in the row as well as the kids.
Why November 25 is the real headline
Release dates are strategy, and November 25 is Disney planting Hexed in the heart of the Thanksgiving corridor, when families are together, schools are out and animated films historically do some of their biggest business of the year. An original title has to work harder than a sequel in that slot — there is no built-in audience humming the songs already — but it also gets to be the discovery of the season if the word of mouth lands.
The trailer's job, then, is simple: make Billie and Alice feel like family worth spending a holiday weekend with, and make Hexe look like a place worth getting lost in. On Monday's evidence — a bright realm, a stacked voice cast, a mother-daughter story with real stakes — Disney Animation has given itself a genuine shot. The countdown to November 25 starts now.
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