Bad news from Genovia. Julie Andrews says she’s unlikely to return for the third instalment of the Princess Diaries franchise.
Andrews starred in The Princess Diaries as Clarisse Renaldi, Queen of Genovia, in 2001 alongside Anne Hathaway, who played her granddaughter Mia Thermopolis. The pair reprised their roles in the 2004 sequel, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
Nearly twenty years later, it was reported in November that Princess Diaries 3 is officially in the works at Disney+. but it doesn’t look like Andrews will be signing on. Though she voices Lady Whistledown on Bridgerton, the 87-year-old has not physically appeared on screen since 2017.
“I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible,” Andrews told Access Hollywood in an interview shared in December. “It was talked about very shortly after the second sequel came out, but it’s now how many years since then? And I am that much older, and Annie, the princess or queen, is so much older. And I am not sure where it would float or run.”
She added, “In terms of us doing another movie, I very much doubt that now… Something, we’ll do together.”
Hathaway has been hoping to return to Genovia for years. “There is a script for the third movie,” she said during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live in 2019.
“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. 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. 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.”