Ruben Fleischer attends Lionsgate's "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" New York Premiere at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on November 10, 2025 in New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text [This story contains spoilers for Now You See Me: Now You Don't.] Ruben Fleischer is used to kicking off franchises, but Now You See Me: Now You Don't is the first time he's joined one. As the director of both Zombieland movies, Venom and Uncharted, the third Now You See Me movie certainly fits Fleischer's penchant for fun action set pieces and banter between likable characters. But the most obvious selling point was the chance to reteam with two of his Zombieland actors, Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson, for the fourth time each. The Zombieland reunions didn't stop there as Fleischer then brought in screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to punch up the script while filming was already underway. Related Stories General News Jesse Eisenberg Says He's Donating One of His Kidneys to a Stranger Movies Jesse Eisenberg Recruits New Magicians in 'Now You See Me: Now You Don't' Trailer With Mark Ruffalo unavailable due to Task, the third installment repositions Eisenberg's J. Daniel Atlas as the ringleader of the Horsemen. The original four magician-vigilantes of Atlas, Merritt McKinney (Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) are currently at odds with each other over a failed heist that resulted in the imprisonment of Ruffalo's Dylan Shrike in Russia. So Atlas decides to recruit three Gen Z magicians - played by Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa and Justice Smith - all of whom share the Robin Hood-like ethos of the Horsemen. Ultimately, each generation of the Horsemen bands together to take down Rosamund Pike's Veronika Vanderberg, who launders money for arms dealers through her South African diamond company. After a job well done, Ruffalo's character then appears via a holographic message to reveal that he's no longer in prison and tee up their next trick. "It was only when we were doing reshoots this past summer that [Ruffalo] happened to be available for a day in New York. We were able to shoot him against a green screen and add him to the final scene of the movie," Fleischer tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Now You See Me: Now You Don't's current theatrical release. If this third installment's box office run shows that the audience still has an appetite for magician-led heists, Fleischer and co. are already planning their next move, one that would hopefully include the entire stable of Horsemen. The count is currently nine. "That's certainly the aspiration, but when you have an ensemble franchise like this with so many characters and storylines to service, it obviously presents challenges," Fleischer admits. "We have to be real smart and intentional with how we structure the film. So we're in the midst of that right now as we're working on the fourth installment." John M. Chu's previous chapter, Now You See Me 2 (2016), opted to write out Fisher's character due to the actor's pregnancy at the time. Lizzy Caplan's Lula May then took her place as the one female Horseman. However, the latter's status became a bit of a mystery when Now You See Me: Now You Don't's marketing highlighted the return of Fisher without any acknowledgement of Caplan. That raised the dreaded question of whether Caplan would be removed from the story in the same expositional way Fisher was a decade ago. Fortunately, the two actors are not alternating appearances, as Caplan's Lula returns at a crucial point midway through the movie. Disguised as an intoxicated older woman, she breaks a few Horsemen out of jail before revealing herself. "It was really important to me that we rectify the past. Isla's character, Henley, was written out with just a line of exposition, and audiences were just forced to accept Lula in her place," Fleischer says. "So I was really grateful that we could right the ship on that. We could not only feature both of them, but we could also suggest that they're friends and that there's solidarity among female magicians." As for Zombieland 3, Fleischer has his sights set on 2029 in order to maintain the end-of-decade release pattern that started with 2009's Zombieland and continued with 2019's Zombieland: Double Tap. "We always talk about it. Last month was the 16th anniversary of Zombieland, and an email went around among the cast and producer and writers. Everybody expressed their desire to make another one," Fleischer shares. "2029 is when we always said that it should come out because the second one [in 2019] was ten years after the first one. When we were making the second one, we all agreed we should do this thing again in ten years. So we've go