It’s been over 18 years since The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement opened in theaters, but fans of the hit Disney franchise are still hoping for another sequel. With the entertainment giant reviving some of its classic properties in recent years, is Princess Diaries 3 included in its roster of upcoming movies?
Is Disney making a Princess Diaries 3?
Talks about a Princess Diaries 3 started in 2016 – 12 years after the 2004 release of Princess Diaries 2. That year, Garry Marshall, the director of the first two movies, announced that franchise star Anne Hathaway would reprise her role as Mia Thermopolis in a third Princess Diaries film after she gave birth to her first child. But when Marshall passed away in July of that year, the project had been shelved indefinitely.
Despite that, Héctor Elizondo, who portrayed Queen Clarisse Renaldi’s (Julie Andrews) head of security in the franchise, told Variety Latino a month later that the possibility of Princess Diaries 3 being produced is still high even after Marshall’s death. “I know Anne would like to do it. I know Julie would like to do it. I would like to do it. So we’re on board, it’s a question of when and a question of getting a good story. I’m ready!” the actor said. “It’s time to go back to Genovia!”
Fast-forward to January 2019, Hathaway revealed during an appearance on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that “there is a script for the third movie” and confirmed that Andrews was on board to co-star in the film, with Debra Martin Chase returning as producer. Hathaway, however, noted that they were taking time in developing the sequel.
“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,” the actress said. “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.”
Almost four years later, in November 2022, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively revealed that Princess Diaries is in the works at Disney, with Aadrita Mukerji penning a script for the new installment. Mukerji comes from the world of TV, where she has written episodes of Supergirl, Scorpion, Reacher, and Quantum Leap.
Will Anne Hathaway return for Princess Diaries 3?
Insiders told The Hollywood Reporter that Anne Hathaway doesn’t currently have a deal to return for Princess Diaries 3. But since she has stated her support for a third installment since 2016, the hope is she would return to the franchise should the new movie move forward beyond the script stage.
Is Julie Andrews going to be in Princess Diaries 3?
In an interview with The Talk in April 2020, Julie Andrews said that she would like to be reunited with Anne Hathaway for a Princess Diaries 3, but admitted that she’s not quite sure if the sequel would come at the right time, as she’s now 87 years old.
“I’ve heard that there might be one,” Andrews said of another Princess Diaries sequel at the time. “It’s long been talked about but nothing sort of been on my desk or anything like that. I’m going awfully old and crotchety. I’m not sure if it’s the right timing, but I think to work with Annie [Hathaway] would be lovely again. And yeah, sure, I would be up for it. I think we should wait if the script comes in just wait for that.”
Unfortunately for fans, nearly a month after The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that a Princess Diaries 3 is in development, Andrews sounded a bit more pessimistic when asked if she’s coming back for the new sequel.
“I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible,” the veteran actress told Access Hollywood in December 2022. “It was talked about very shortly after [Princess Diaries] 2 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. In terms of us doing it, I doubt that now.”
Princess Diaries 3 cast
Disney has yet to reveal the cast of Princess Diaries 3. But in addition to Anne Hathaway and Héctor Elizondo, franchise stars Chris Pine (Nicholas Deveraux), Heather Matarazzo (Lilly Moscovitz), and Mandy Moore (Lana Thomas) have also expressed their desire to reprise their respective roles in the third movie.
When will Princess Diaries 3 come out?
Since Princess Diaries 3 is still in the script stage, the project doesn’t have an official release date yet.
What kind of a movie is Princess Diaries?
Released in 2001, the first The Princess Diaries movie is a coming-of-age comedy flick. Loosely based on Meg Cabot’s 2000 young adult novel of the same name, the film follows the story of Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway), a shy American teenager who learns that she is heir to the throne of the European kingdom called Genovia. Under the tutelage of her estranged grandmother Queen Clarisse Renaldi (Julie Andrews), Mia must decide whether she wishes to claim the throne she has inherited or abdicate her title permanently.
After the original film grossed over $165.3 million worldwide, the sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement was released in 2004 to similar success, earning $134.7 million at the global box office. The second installment is described as a romantic comedy that focuses on the love story between Mia and her suitor Nicholas Devereaux (Chris Pine).
Plot details about Princess Diaries 3 are being kept under wraps, but sources told The Hollywood Reporter made it clear that the new movie is a continuation of the two films rather than a reboot.
Is there a Princess Diaries spinoff?
In 2020, the website The Illuminerdi published a report claiming that a spinoff to The Princess Diaries movies is in the works at Disney+. The project was reportedly being developed by Martin Chase Productions, the production company owned by Debra Martin Chase who produced the first two movies in the franchise.
Lorna Osunsanmi, who served as a writer and executive story editor on The CW’s All American, was said to be working on the script for the yet-to-be-titled spinoff. According to the report, the project won’t center on Anne Hathaway’s Mia Thermopolis or Julie Andrews’ Clarisse Renaldi. Instead, it will tell the story of Mia’s biracial, teenage half-sister, Olivia Harrison, who moves to Genovia to live with the royal family after finding out that she’s also a daughter of the late Prince of Genovia, Philippe Renaldi.
Though the character of Olivia has yet to make her live-action debut with this supposed Disney+ project, the character has long been introduced as the protagonist of Meg Cabot’s 2015 The Princess Diaries spinoff novel, From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess.
Despite the excitement surrounding the spinoff, Disney has yet to officially confirm the project.