Following the announcement of sequels for Freaky Friday and The Devil Wears Prada, another early-2000s classic has received a long-awaited follow-up. The Princess Diaries, or as Meghan Markle once referred to it as that “old movie with Anne Hathaway,” is getting a third installment. The Princess Diaries 3 has found its director, more than 20 years after 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and the original 2001 film.
Filmmaker Adele Lim, who wrote the scripts for Disney’s 2021 animated film Raya and the Last Dragon and Crazy Rich Asians before making her directorial debut with last year’s R-rated female comedy Joy Ride, will helm the project. “As a diehard fan of the original Princess Diaries, I’m beyond excited to be a part of bringing the third iteration of this beloved franchise to life,” she said in a statement to Deadline, which was first to report the news. “We look forward to celebrating its core tenants of female power, joy and mentorship with audiences worldwide.”
The first two movies, adapted from Meg Cabot’s popular young adult novels, were directed by Garry Marshall, who died in 2016. They centered on Hathaway’s Mia Thermopolis, a teenager who learns she is heir to the throne of a fictional European nation called Genovia. Princess lessons conducted by her grandmother Queen Clarisse Renaldi (played by Julie Andrews) follow, and continue into Mia’s coronation in the sequel.
Ahead, everything we know about the next Princess Diaries, including whether or not Andrews would reprise her role.
Is The Princess Diaries 3 really happening?
Looks like it, yes. With the selection of Lim as director, a threequel that has long been in the works inches a step closer to reality. Back in 2022, it was reported that a third Princess Diaries film was in development with screenwriter Aadrita Mukerji, who previously worked on TV’s Supergirl and Quantum Leap, and that Debra Martin Chase, a producer on the first two installments, is set to return. She will executive produce alongside Lim’s producing partners, Naia Cucukov and Melissa Stack.
Earlier this year, Hathaway was asked by New York Times Magazine “Is anything cooking with a Princess Diaries 3?” She replied, “Yep,” before declining to reveal more.
Who will be in The Princess Diaries 3?
Although Hathaway has not officially signed onto the next installment, her affection for the franchise was on full-display while speaking with Vanity Fair earlier this year. “This was the film that changed my life,” she said, growing emotional as she watched a clip from the original movie, which she hadn’t seen in “maybe 20 years.” Hathaway said that The Princess Diaries “wound up being so big, and it’s just gotten bigger as my life has progressed.”
Other actors who were involved in both movies have expressed interest in returning—from Mandy Moore, who played mean girl Lana in the original film to Sandra Oh, who appeared in a brief, but memorable role as Vice Principal Gupta: “I am ready for the Queen,” she told Entertainment Weekly last year. “Call me! I’m dying to see how Gupta has moved up in the world.”
Perhaps more significantly, Chris Pine, who played Mia’s love interest, Nicholas Devereaux, in the 2004 sequel, seemed open to the idea of reuniting with Hathaway back in 2016. “Don’t you pray every night for a Princess Diaries 3?” he was asked during a fan Q&A for Entertainment Weekly. Pine replied, “Have you been reading my diary?”
