Julie Andrews‘ long-delayed American Film Institute tribute will finally take place on Thursday, prompting the entertainment icon to look back on her historic career and her future. That future is not expected to include a third Princess Diaries movie. Andrews believes the time to make a Princess Diaries 3 has passed, especially since the death of filmmaker Garry Marshall in 2016.
“I think it would be too late to do it now. There was talk of a sequel many, many years ago. But I don’t think it ever came to pass. And Garry then did leave us,” The Sound of Musicย star told The Hollywood Reporter. “[For] especially me, it’s too far down the line now to go back to it. It’s a lovely thought, but I don’t think it would probably be possible.”
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Disney’s The Princess Diaries franchise started in 2001 when Marshall and screenwriter Gina Wendkos brought Meg Cabot’s novel to the screen. Anne Hathaway starred as the shy Mia Thermopolis, who learns she is heir to the throne of a European kingdom. Andrews playedย her estranged grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi. The movie was an unexpected smash hit, and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement followed in 2004. Marshall directed the second film, which Windkos wrote with Shonda Rhimes.
Although Andrews, 86, doesn’t see a Princess Diaries 3 happening any time soon, she acknowledged how the franchise introduced her to a whole new audience. “I think you are always bracketed for what is the most popular thing you’ve done,” she told THR. “If you think about someone like Clark Gable, it’s Gone with the Wind. It was the most popular thing he could have possibly done. I think that’s why people remember it because it is a big success. But these days, far from it being only Mary Poppins, young kids know me better from the Princess Diaries.”
During a 2019 stop on Watch What Happens Live, Hathaway said both she and Andrews wanted to make another Princess Diaries movie. “It’s just we don’t want to unless it’s perfect because we love it just as much as you guys love it,” Hathaway said. “It’s as important to us as it is to you, and we don’t want to deliver anything until it’s ready, but we’re working on it.”
Andrews was originally slated to receive the 2020 AFI Life Achievement Award, but the ceremony was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was rescheduled for Thursday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony will later air on TNT and TCM. She continues to work, voicing Lady Whistledown in Netflix’s Bridgerton and voicing a character in the upcoming Minions: The Rise of Gru.ย
