Julie Bowen initially thought she had been replaced by Sydney Sweeney in the Happy Gilmore sequel.

The Modern Family actress starred as Virginia Venit, the pro golf tour PR director and the love interest to Adam Sandler’s titular golf player Happy, in the 1996 sports comedy.

Bowen, 55, admitted to The Hollywood Reporter that she didn’t expect to be involved in a sequel 30 years later, particularly when an online rumour claimed that Sweeney, 27, had been cast as Happy’s new love interest.

“I heard that it was happening and I thought, ‘Well I won’t be in it.’ And that was OK – it was like Virginia Venit, it’s been 30 years, he’s got a hottie, he’s got some little bitty on the side, like a cart girl,” she explained at Netflix’s TUDUM event on Saturday.

“As a matter of fact my children told me, before I was even told officially that there was a Happy Gilmore sequel, my now 18-year-old said, ‘Mom, I hear they’re doing a sequel and he’s with Sydney Sweeney as a cart girl.’ I went, ‘I’m hurt and I so respect that move.’ Of course, why wouldn’t you? So when I got the call that I was actually in it, I was like, ‘Are you sure? Come on.'”

Bowen and Sandler star alongside returning cast members Christopher McDonald and Ben Stiller as well as Sandler’s daughters Sunny and Sadie and famous faces including Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, Benny Safdie, Travis Kelce and Eminem.

Happy Gilmore 2 will premiere on Netflix on 25 July.

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