Dolly Parton on ‘9 to 5’ Sequel: ‘It’s Pretty Far Down the Road’

Dolly Parton elated millions of fans when she announced a 9 to 5 sequel was in the works, but it turns out those fans are going to need to be patient for a little while longer. The 73-year-old reveals the remake of 9 to 5, which will once again star Parton along with her original co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, won’t be ready anytime soon.

“Well, it’s actually pretty far down the road,” Parton told Knoxville News Sentinel. “They got the first rewrite, and we’ve made some changes … Now we’re into the second rewrite, so it’s just a matter of getting all of our characters right and making sure that it’s the right thing.”

“And the studio, they have their notes,” she continued. “The producers have their notes. We have our notes as actresses, like ‘My character’s like this … oh we need to do this, do that.’ So it’s just a work in progress, but it’s progressing.”

Parton is also working on another holiday musical, this time a TV movie called Christmas on the Square, which will air on Netflix.

“This is a story about a small town in the middle of the country, and it’s about them trying to sell the whole town to like a Walmart type,” explained Parton. “So these little people that lived here all these years, it’s just them trying to fight to save their hometown and all that.”

“It’s got all this wonderful stuff built into it, and I’ve written all the music,” added the star. “It’s a musical … and a story as well, so there’s dialogue and a lot of music, so I’m excited about that.”

First up for Parton is Heartstrings, also on Netflix. The series will center around some of Parton’s biggest hits, with celebrities like Kathleen Turner, Ginnifer Goodwin, Gerald McRaney, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and more.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for years, to have some movies based on my songs I’ve written, so I’m really proud with how they’ve turned out,” Parton said. “We have some wonderful actors and actresses in it, and a chance to get a lot of my music in.”

The country music icon will have a part in each of the episodes, introducing them and providing voiceovers.

“I present the shows in the same way that I did Coat of Many Colors and … Circle of Love a few years back,” explained Parton. “[I talk] about how I wrote the songs and what they mean to me, and then we go into the movies.”

Parton will also play the character of Babe, a bar owner in the episode entitled “Jolene.”

“I’m all over it,” revealed Parton. “Hopefully, people are going to enjoy it ’cause they turned out real well, I think.”

Photo Credit: Getty images/Jason LaVeris