What happened to Joey King after The Kissing Booth? She kept acting while building a career behind the camera.
If you remember her as Elle Evans, you might still picture school romances, friendship rules, and impossible choices. But that Netflix trilogy captures only one part of her working life.
Since its final installment, King has appeared in action movies, a historical drama, and more romantic comedy. She has also helped bring a favorite childhood book to the screen and married director Steven Piet.
As of September 2026, her latest major release is Practical Magic 2, alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
The thread connecting these projects is a growing range of roles and more involvement in making them happen.
She Was Already Branching Out Before the Trilogy Ended
Some viewers first met King as Ramona Quimby in 2010’s Ramona and Beezus. Others remember her from The Conjuring or White House Down, both released in 2013.
Then came The Kissing Booth in 2018. Playing Elle brought her to a teen audience that followed the character through sequels in 2020 and 2021.
During that same period, King took on a very different role.
In Hulu’s 2019 series The Act, she portrayed Gypsy Rose Blanchard opposite Patricia Arquette. The performance earned her an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie.
That timing matters. Her move into demanding drama began while she was still making the teen romances. Fans following only Elle’s story could easily have missed a major part of her career happening alongside it.
By the time the trilogy finished, King had already shown that she could move between very different kinds of material.
After Elle, She Took on Action and More Producing Work
The Kissing Booth 3 arrived in 2021. In 2022, King appeared alongside Brad Pitt in Bullet Train and led the action film The Princess.
Those projects gave viewers a different version of an actor they might have associated mainly with romance. They also continued a pattern: King kept moving between genres.
Her work behind the camera had started earlier than some fans might realize. She served as an executive producer on both The Kissing Booth 2 and The Kissing Booth 3.
So the end of the franchise did not mark the beginning of her interest in producing. She was already combining that work with acting.
Her approach to choosing jobs was changing, too. In a 2022 Allure interview, she described having sometimes worn herself out by staying busy.
“Now I’m being a little bit more picky,” - Joey King
That offers a useful glimpse into her priorities. She was thinking about which projects deserved her time, even as new roles kept arriving.
For another look at how a familiar screen role can lead to work behind the camera, read how Beth Riesgraf expanded into directing and producing after Leverage.
Three Projects Show How Broad Her Career Became
Her 2024 work makes that variety especially clear.
In We Were the Lucky Ones, King played Halina Kurc, a young Jewish woman whose family is separated during World War II. The Hulu series adapts Georgia Hunter’s novel, inspired by her family’s experience of the Holocaust.
It was another substantial dramatic role, several years after The Act.
Then came A Family Affair. King played Zara, an assistant whose movie-star boss begins a relationship with her mother. Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman played the couple, placing King at the center of the resulting family chaos.
Later that year, she starred as Tally Youngblood in Uglies, Netflix’s adaptation of Scott Westerfeld’s novel. The story follows a teenager living in a society that imposes beauty standards through compulsory surgery.
For King, Uglies also carried a personal connection. As she explained in Netflix’s behind-the-scenes feature, she had loved the book since she was 11 and wanted to play Tally.
She eventually became both its lead actor and an executive producer, helping bring the adaptation to the screen.
Taken together, these projects explain where her career went after Elle: historical drama, comedy, and science fiction, with producing increasingly part of the picture.
The Act Also Led to a Major Change Off Screen
The Act brought King more than professional recognition. She met director Steven Piet while working on the series.
In her wedding feature for Vogue, King recalled that they became friends first. She waited until the wrap party to tell him how she felt and ask him out.
They married in Mallorca, Spain, in September 2023.
That milestone belongs alongside her career story. The roles that followed, including her busy 2024 release schedule, show that acting remained a central part of her life after the wedding.
Where Is Joey King Now?
As of September 23, 2026, King remains active as an actor, with executive-producing credits already part of her career.
Her latest major screen appearance is Practical Magic 2. She plays Kylie, a daughter of Sandra Bullock’s character, Sally Owens, joining the next generation of the film’s magical family.
The sequel opened in North American theaters on September 11, 2026, as listed on the official Practical Magic 2 website. It also reunited King with Nicole Kidman after A Family Affair.
For viewers catching up after The Kissing Booth, there is now a substantial watchlist between Elle Evans and Kylie Owens.
The most revealing change may be the one audiences cannot see in a performance. King once read Uglies and imagined herself playing its heroine. Years later, she helped produce the adaptation.
That adds another way to understand her career: she can pursue a character she wants to play and help get that character onto the screen.
Questions Readers Ask About Joey King
Did Joey King stop acting?
No. After The Kissing Booth trilogy, she continued appearing in films and television, including Bullet Train, We Were the Lucky Ones, and Practical Magic 2.
Who did Joey King marry?
King married director Steven Piet in September 2023. They met while working on The Act.
Is Joey King a producer?
Yes. Her executive-producing credits include The Kissing Booth 2, The Kissing Booth 3, and Uglies, all of which she also starred in.