Warning: Contains Spoilers for Smile 2!Smile 2 features a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo of Rose Cotter, Sosie Bacon's character from the first movie, and it changes the original film's ending in the process. Due to the nature of the Smile Curse and its rules, the Smile sequel turned its focus onto an entirely new character rather than make Joel the main character. Through a chain of events that occur in the days after Smile's ending, Skye Riley becomes the curse's latest target, and Naomi Scott's pop star character's story is largely disconnected from the franchise's original protagonist.

While the majority of Smile 2 has next to nothing to do with the original movie and its characters, the first sequence is the complete opposite. The sequel begins by showing the days after Joel got the curse and his attempts to pass it off to criminals so he could live.