It’s been two decades since The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement gave Mia Thermopolis her foot-popping happy ending with Nicholas, and fans have long been clamoring for a return trip to Genovia. Now, at long last, a third installment is finally on the way — and Genovia’s most unlikely royal transformation has confirmed it herself. Anne Hathaway (aka Mia) posted a video on TikTok nodding to her catchphrase from the franchise: “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
Hathaway’s social media surprise followed shortly after Deadline officially broke the news that Princess Diaries 3 was moving forward with Adele Lim returning to work with Disney as director. (Lim previously worked with Disney when she wrote the 2021 Disney animated movie Raya and the Last Dragon.)
It would appear Lim is just as excited as the rest of us about the reboot, too. “As a diehard fan of the original Princess Diaries, I’m beyond excited to be a part of bringing the third iteration of this beloved franchise to life,” she told Deadline. “We look forward to celebrating its core tenants of female power, joy, and mentorship with audiences worldwide.”
Here’s everything that’s been said about the threequel so far.
Is there a Princess Diaries 3 script?
Rumors that a third Princess Diaries movie is in the works have been swirling for years. As recently as 2019, Hathaway confirmed that a script was written. “There is a script for the third movie,” she said on an episode of Watch What Happens Live. “There is a script. I want to do it, Julie [Andrews] wants to do it, Debra Martin Chase, our producer, wants to do it. We all really want it to happen.”
However, Hathaway did share one caveat: The story will have to be perfect for her to return. “It’s just, we don’t want to do it unless it’s perfect because we love it just as much as you guys love it,” she explained. “It’s as important to us as it is to you, and we don’t want to deliver anything until it’s ready. But we’re working on it.”
So, based on the latest from Hathaway, we can deduce that the script has reached a place that she and the other cast feel honors the original movie and sequel enough to say yes.
Which other stars have said they would return?
In an August 2023 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Mandy Moore revealed she’s game for The Princess Diaries 3 — and she even has some ideas about what Mia’s high school bully Lana might be up to in 2022.
More than anything, Moore wants redemption for Lana. She told Barrymore that her dream future for Lana involves a friendship with Mia. “She’s done a 180,” the This Is Us star pitched. “She’s turned her life around, and she and Mia become really good friends.”
Moore isn’t the only Princess Diaries alum who has expressed interest in continuing Mia’s story. Chris Pine, who played Nicholas, has said he would sign on as long as filming didn’t take him too far away from his hometown. “If it’s in Los Angeles, I’ll be there… if it’s in L.A. It’s my hometown. I have a lot of pride,” he said to Extra in March 2023.
The only major holdout from the cast appears to be Julie Andrews, who feels the time to make another film in the series passed after director Garry Marshall died in 2016. “I think it would be too late to do it now,” she told The Hollywood Reporter last June. “There was talk of a sequel many, many years ago. But I don’t think it ever came to pass. And Garry then did leave us. [For] especially me, it’s too far down the line now to go back to it. It’s a lovely thought, but I don’t think it would probably be possible.”
And while Andrews is still acting, she’s been focusing much more recently on her longtime writing partnership with daughter Emma Walton Hamilton. Could Hathaway saying yes to the threequel bring her back? We’ll have to wait and see.
What would The Princess Diaries 3 be about?
If the stars in Genovia align just right, there are plenty of ways Mia’s story could continue — or the baton could be passed to the next generation. By now, Mia and Nicholas could conceivably have royal youngsters the story could follow, or the movie could take on what it means to be a princess in 2022.
While Mia’s story concluded with a royal wedding in Cabot’s books, the author has written a spinoff series that could serve as inspiration for a third movie or even a TV series on Disney+. In From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess, Mia discovers she has a half-sister she never knew about named Olivia. When she shows up on Olivia’s doorstep, the tween’s entire life changes in an instant — much like Mia’s did when she discovered she was a princess.
Since Mia’s father died in the movies, it might make more sense for Olivia to be related to Mia in a different way, but the tween angle makes the books a perfect fit for the Disney treatment. Plus, introducing Olivia into the story would make The Princess Diaries 3 nostalgic for original fans and accessible to the next generation of viewers.
Now all that’s left is for someone to convince Andrews that Queen Clarisse needs to make one more royal appearance in Genovia for the good of her people… er, make that her fans.
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