Even though The Princess Diaries 3 is moving forward at Disney, Julie Andrews has likely already said goodbye to her role as Queen Clarise.
The legendary actor and singer told Access Hollywood “it’s probably not going to be possible” for her to reprise her role in the sequel. Anne Hathaway, who co-starred in both films as Clarise’s granddaughter Princess Mia, also has yet to commit to the project.
Andrews is now 87 — notable because she herself commented: “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.”
While she doesn’t seem to have much interest in retiring from the screen anytime soon — she’s the Bridgerton narrator, after all! — she seems to want to move forward with voice acting and co-writing children’s books rather than return to a role she only played twice. No matter how iconic that role may have been for a particular subset of people (me).
The first film in the Princess Diaries franchise was released in 2001, with the sequel three years later. It’s now been almost 19 years since the last movie, and its stars have gone in two different directions; Hathaway’s career has soared, while Andrews, with many decades of success behind her before Diaries, has led a slightly quieter career (but she’s not quitting, don’t worry).
And it’s not like the second movie didn’t send Andrews and her character off with the grandest of farewells. Not only did Clarise get to marry the man of her dreams, but Andrews also got to perform part of a song in one scene. She couldn’t sing with the voice that brought her to stardom decades earlier since the surgery that permanently ruined her vocal cords, but the moment was heart-stopping both for audiences and everyone present during filming.
Perhaps the best direction to go at this point is to somehow recreate the magic of the first two movies (don’t tell me Shonda Rhimes’ work on Royal Engagement was anything but extraordinary) without the original cast. Disney does love its sequels, and though we can’t stop them from making more, maybe we’ll be lucky enough to get something worth waiting almost 20 years for.
