Like an urban legend, talks of a third installment in the beloved movies series “The Princess Diaries” have floated around the internet for years with no hope of anything but rumors. The movie had been reported to be “under works” in 2017, according to an article by E! News. But with actress Anne Hathaway confirming the existence of a script in January of this year and some more details slowly being released about the movie, there’s still hope yet. Here’s everything we know about our return to Genovia.
“There is a script for the third movie,” Hathaway said in January during an episode of “Watch What Happens Live.” She plays Princess (now Queen!) Mia Thermopolis of Genovia, a small fictional country in Europe. “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 unless it’s perfect because we love it just as much as you guys love it.”
A release date is still up in the air, but during the premiere of Hathaway’s new film, “The Hustle,” she teased that the movie was “Disney’s hands!”
It’s good to hear some key players are back for the movie, especially Julie Andrews, who plays Mia’s grandmother, i.e. the queen of Genovia. Luckily some more cast members have also expressed interest. Mandy Moore would want her high school bully character, Lana Thomas, to have a humbling experience and would “be down” to be in the next movie, according to People magazine. The actor for our favorite almost-king of Genovia, Chris Pine, had expressed excitement to return as Nicholas Devereaux.
“Have you been reading my diary???” Pine had said in a fan Q&A interview with Entertainment Weekly.
The original movie and its sequel, released in 2001 and 2004, respectively, are based on the popular teen book series by Meg Cabot of the same name. There are some differences between the source material and the adaptation, but the author still remains a part of the process of the movies and both are beloved in their own right. She’s been tight-lipped with details about the next installment, so hopefully that means there’s new developments there.
“I am not allowed to say [what it’s about]. I would love to sit and talk about [it], but I can’t. I’m not allowed,” Cabot said to Entertainment Weekly.
The late director Garry Marshall, who had helmed the first two movies, had originally expressed his desire for the script of the third movie to take place in Manhattan. Although this very possibly could have changed, it is an exciting theory to consider.
Fans have expressed interest in seeing Mia serving as queen in the third movie, and the complications that would surely arise there. Others wonder if Nicholas will be serving as her consort, or if their romance will continue to play out in the latest installment. Either way we’ll wait patiently for any more tidbits of information and will be ready to pull out our pear-flavored popcorn when it (hopefully) inevitably comes to theaters. Long live the queen of Genovia!
Hollie Lao is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at hollianne.lao@uconn.edu.
