Why does Joey King wear a wig in The Kissing Booth 2? Here's why the actress was forced to embrace some faux hair flair for the Netflix movie.

Actress Joey King had to wear a wig to play Elle Evans for the 2020 Netflix movie The Kissing Booth 2, which is because of a previous role. King herself shared a clip showing her transformation into the character, revealing that her real hair was rather short when filming commenced.

Joey King portrays a typical California teenager in The Kissing Booth. Her character attends Los Angeles Country Day high school and spends time at the extravagant Hollywood home of best friend Lee Flynn (Joel Courtney). The Kissing Booth opens with backstory exposition, as Elle recalls the death of her mother, who previously attended The University of California-Berkeley with Lee's mother.

In the first two Kissing Booth movies, Elle presents herself as a thoughtful young woman, one who slowly learns about how she's perceived by classmates. Elle doesn't quite fit in with the trio of "OMG Girls," nor does she present herself as a punk rocker like classmate Heather. Elle looks like a relatively normal Cali student, partially due to the hairstyle that Joey King sports while playing her character. However, interestingly, the actress wears a wig for some of her time as Elle in the Kissing Booth franchise.

Why Joey King Wears A Wig In Kissing Booth 2

Joey King wears a wig in The Kissing Booth 2 because she had previously shaved her head for a separate role. In 2017, one year after The Kissing Booth wrapped production, King prepared to star as Gypsy Blanchard in Hulu's The Act, a role that required a significantly different hairstyle for character authenticity. Filming took place between October 2018 and February 2019, and King ultimately earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. A few months after The Act wrapped production, King relocated to South Africa to film The Kissing Booth 2.

So, are there any obvious wig moments from the actor in The Kissing Booth 2? Not really, it seems, as Joey King has various wig-styles that mostly match her look in the original film. At times, the hairpiece does appear a bit flat, but that probably wouldn't stand out to Netflix streamers who don't know that King is indeed wearing a wig. The actress told People about her initial haircut contrast with the personality of her conflicted character in The Kissing Booth movie franchise:

“No part of me was nervous or was second-guessing it. So many people would ask me, ‘Are you really scared?’ or ‘Are you nervous?’ or say, ‘You’re so brave.’ And I’d go, ‘I’m not brave, I’m just cutting my hair off.'”

Why Joey King (Still) Wears A Wig In Kissing Booth 3

Not only is the actress wearing a wig in The Kissing Booth 2, but Joey King also wears a wig in 2021's The Kissing Booth 3. The two rom-com franchise sequels were filmed back-to-back shortly after King finished her work for The Act, and her hair hadn't grown back enough to pull off a longer-haired version of Elle's character yet (that is, until she sports a real pixie cut at The Kissing Booth 3's end).

In July 2020, Joey King posted an Instagram video that shows her wig transformation for her character's return in The Kissing Booth 2. The clip reveals the natural length of the actress' hair, which is slightly longer than the previous image above (left) from The Act. Overall, the video focuses on the complete character transformation - makeup, hairstyling, wardrobe - but also provides a look at the specifics of the wig placement. Meaning, it's not just a piece of hair that was merely pulled over Joey King's head, but rather crafted to match the actress' hairline, and to avoid any wardrobe malfunctions during filming for the Kissing Booth sequel movies.

More: Kissing Booth: Lee Is Secretly In Love With Elle - Theory Explained