Meryl Streep Fuels 'Mamma Mia 3' Rumors
Meryl Streep in 'Mamma Mia!'
Fans hoping for a third installment in the Mamma Mia! franchise just might get it...and Meryl Streep might somehow, inexplicably, come back as Donna Sheridan. What?!
Streep herself shared the news. In an interview with Deadline at the Cannes Film Festival, where she was honored with an honorary Palme D'Or, Streep said "of course, I want to do it" and added, "I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They have an idea. I haven’t heard it yet but it’s in [my diary] and I’m going to hear about it pretty soon."
Keep reading for everything there is to know about Mamma Mia 3, including who might be in the cast.
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Is there going to be a Mamma Mia 3?
A third movie hasn't been confirmed, but talk of one has been circulating for quite some time now.
Producer Judy Craymer told the Daily Mail in 2020, "I think one day there will be another film, because there’s meant to be a trilogy, you see. I know Universal would like me to do it."
The idea has been supported by Streep herself, despite the fact that her character Donna died in the second movie and appeared only as a ghost.
"Of course I want to do it. I think folks love it,” she told Deadline in May 2024. Her agent, Kevin Huvane, also chimed in, telling the outlet, "We’re optimistic about it."
That wasn't the first time Streep had expressed interest in doing a third movie, either.
“I’ll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there,” she said in 2023. She also acknowledged, however, that her character had died in the second movie, which makes her return a bit tricky.
“I told [creator] Judy [Craymer] if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I’m into that. Or it could be like in one of those soap operas where Donna comes back and reveals it was really her twin sister that died…We may have to call it ‘Grand-Mamma Mia!’ by the time we make it!”
That same year, Craymer expressed her belief that she could indeed pull off Streep's return. “There is a story there, and I do think Meryl should come back," she told Deadline. "And if the script is right, she would, I think, because she really loved playing Donna.”
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What is the Mamma Mia 3 release date?
Don't get ahead of yourself! The movie needs to be greenlit before it can get a release date.
Who is in the cast of Mamma Mia 3?
Again, the movie is not yet in development, so there is no casting news. However, Streep isn't the only star who's spoken out in favor of bringing a third movie to theaters.
Star Amanda Seyfried told Collider in 2020 that there was potential for a third movie. "Listen, every single person in that movie would say yes in a heartbeat, because we want to hang out with each other," she explained.
"That’s what we talked about last time, like, did we ever think that we’d end up here again on an island in Croatia?"
But there's one potential snag, Seyfried added a few years later, in a 2023 oral history of the original Mamma Mia! with Vogue: money.
“Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either. The powers that be probably can’t afford us, to be honest," she said.
“I hate to say it, because would I do ‘Mamma Mia 3’ for free—of course I would — but that’s not the business we’re in. What’s fair is fair, and I feel like a third film is going to come down to something stupid like whether or not Universal wants to pay the money.”
Actor Pierce Brosnan also joined the conversation during a May 2023 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. He told the host he would be open to returning for a third installment. "It's easy to fall in love with Meryl. It's easy to fall in love with every member of the cast. It was criminal how much fun we had. Everyone brought their wives, their girlfriends, their boyfriends, so it became a family...Everyone got on extremely well together."
What happens in Mamma Mia 3?
A script doesn't exist yet, so it's too soon to say. But the movie could, in theory, follow Seyfried's character Sophie into motherhood. Of course, that still begs the question: How the heck could Meryl Streep return?!
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