Is there going to be a Mamma Mia 3? “I think one day there will be another film, because there’s meant to be a trilogy,” says Judy Craymer.
Get those suitcases packed ASAP because it looks like we might be heading back to the magical island of Kalokairi for one last ABBA singalong. Mamma Mia 3? Yes. Really. Here we go again, again.
Talk of another Mamma Mia movie has been on the cards ever since the second film was released. Audiences love it, the cast love filming it… It’s pretty much a win-win situation.
Thankfully, both co-creator and producer Judy Craymer, and director of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again Ol Parker have now confirmed that there are plans for Mamma Mia 3 to happen.
The latest update? It looks like Meryl Streep might actually return as our dearly departed Donna Sheridan in a bigger capacity.
Speaking to Screen Rant in December 2022, Parker appeared to imply that Craymer’s plans are underway and a third movie is being planned as we speak.
“Judy Craymer, the genius producer behind the musical and the first two films, always plans for it to be a trilogy,” Parker said. “That’s all I can say. The first one made an enormous amount of money, and I think we made a fair amount too. I know that there is a hunger for a third, and I know that she has a plan. Wouldn’t it be lovely?”
In another interview with Deadline, Craymer has teased that development on a third film is in the very early stages and it looks like it might happen… with Meryl Streep back as Donna?!
“I don’t want to over-egg it, but I know there’s a trilogy there,” she said. “There is a story there, and I do think Meryl should come back – and if the script is right, she would, I think, because she really loved playing Donna.”
Now, Meryl has now confirmed that she’d be more than willing to return for a third film. “I’m up for anything,” Meryl told Vogue. “I’ll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there.”
“I told Judy 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.”
Since the release of Mamma Mia 2, ABBA have also reunited and released an entire album of new songs so there’s plenty of new material – as well as some other tracks from their legendary discography that have yet to appear in the movies – to choose from, too.
That’s good news for Amanda Seyfried who previously told Collider that she was worried there wouldn’t be enough new songs for Mamma Mia 3.
In even better news: Christine Baranski has already said that she’d be up for returning as Tanya – mostly because she just absolutely loves shooting those films with the rest of the cast.
“If we could go back and have the same amount of good fun and be on a Greek island together filming and dining together at night at some wonderful trattoria or taverna, I don’t think anybody would give you an argument,” she told EW.
She also teased what Tanya might be up to in the third instalment: “Tanya married. Although by now, she may be divorced. She may have gotten bored with this man.”
As we all know, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again saw flashbacks of Donna Sheridan’s life after it was revealed that she had died. Lily James stepped into those famous dungarees to play a young Donna, with Meryl Streep returning as Ghost Donna toward the end of the film.
So, with Donna still dead, what will happen next? Craymer didn’t offer any insight into the storyline of the potential third film, but given that literally anything can happen on that mysterious Greek island… the plot is anyone’s guess.
Will we see flashbacks from a young Ruby Sheridan’s life? Sophie dumping Sky and raising her son by herself? Two hours of Harry singing ABBA ballads and living his best life in the sun with his boyfriend? A one woman show where all the roles are played by Cher? Mamma Mia: Tokyo Drift?!
It sounds like Mamma Mia 3 is still quite a few years away from becoming a reality but as long as Christine Baranski and Julie Walters are back as Tanya and Rosie alongside Meryl as Donna, we’ll take anything.
