Happy Gilmore 2 director defends movie's shocking twist that left fans 'extremely disappointed'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Happy Gilmore 2.

After almost three decades, Happy Gilmore returned to our screens with the franchise's sequel, something that would have excited both fans and the cast.

But not everyone got to reprise their role in the film after 29 long years of waiting. No, unfortunately one of the bigger names to have starred in the original was killed off just minutes into the movie.

Happy's wife Virginia, played by Julie Bowen - one of the stars of Modern Family, died at the hands of her husband - played by Adam Sandler.

As it goes, he hits one of his famous long drives and the ball ends up striking his wife, presumably in the head, killing her.

The decision to kill her off in the film angered fans, with one writing on Twitter: "Why the f**k did they start off Happy Gilmore 2 with him killing Virginia. You cannot be serious."

While another tweeted: "Echoing similar sentiments a different viewer wrote: "Extremely disappointed with the decision to kill Virginia off… Their dynamic could have made this movie."

But while it wasn't directorn Kyle Newacheck's choice - with Sandler and Tim Herlihy have co-wrote the screenplay - he has defended the move, explaining it isn't too far-fetched considering what happened in the first film.

"There's always a concern when you're playing with that type of darkness," Newacheck told Slash Film.

"But I don't know, I was never really concerned, because it is the driving force [of the film]. If you pull that out, then what do you have? You don't have anything real.

"But yeah, when I first read the screenplay, that's like page five, and I was glued when that happened. So I knew what that feeling felt like, and I knew that people could get over it. You can get over it."

Happy's wife Virginia, played by Julie Bowen, was killed off in the opening few scenes in 'Happy Gilmore 2' (Netflix)

He continued: "It's not far away from the fabric of the world, because in the first one, his father dies. That's tragic. His mother moves to Egypt, and then his father dies, and he moves in with Grandma.

"So there's darkness in the first one. There's real dark humor. So I just felt it fitting."

Despite people raging over the decision, it sets up the film well, as he throws the clubs down for a while until he is spurred on to pick them up after having watched his life spiral out of control.

The film is currently the most-watched movie on Netflix, as well as being the most popular film on IMDb - where it has picked up a respectable score for a comedy, of 6.3 out of 10.