Everything we know about "The Princess Diaries 3"

While there are rumors online about a possible sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, there is another film starring Anne Hathaway about to return to the screen. The news is now official: The Princess Diaries will have a third chapter that will reveal how the story of Mia Thermopolis continues. In the 2001 film, inspired by The Princess Diaries, the series of books written by Meg Cabot, Mia was a normal San Francisco teenager, a bit clumsy and awkward, who suddenly discovered that she was the princess of Genovia and found herself undergoing an epic beauty makeover and having to learn the rules of court etiquette under the guidance of her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi who was played by Julie Andrews. In the 2004 sequel Mia is about to inherit the throne and must choose a husband, deciding whether to bow to the rules of state or do things her own way. Little girl, princess, queen and then what? What will happen to in the new film? Here's everything we know so far about the project currently in the works.

The plot

Deadline reports that the next film will be a continuation of the stories of the first and second installments, rather than a reboot, so where were we? Princess diaries 2: Royal Engagement ended with the marriage between ragtag Clarisse and security manager Joe. Mia, on the other hand, convincing the parliament that she could become queen even without a husband by her side, gave up her marriage to Andrew to pursue her independence and continue her relationship with Nicolas, the boy she was really in love with and who on screen had the face of a young Chris Pine. The actor said he was willing to reprise his character, thus opening up several possibilities for plot development. Will Mia be married in the end? Will she still be with Nicolas, or will the two have broken up, taking different paths and making way for new boyfriends? In the books that inspired the saga Mia was getting married to Michael, the brother of her best friend. Writer Meg Cabot, however, considering the films and books to be two quite distinct universes, has always denied that we would see the two fall in love on screen as well. 

The cast

The original team of the saga seems ready to work together again. Debra Martin Chase will return as the film's producer, while Melissa K. Stack will join executive production. At the moment, we are not 100 percent certain whether Anne Hathaway or Julie Andrews will reprise their respective roles as Mia Thermopolis and Queen Clarisse Renaldi. However, the Devil Wears Prada star has expressed her interest in a third installment. She told Entertainment Tonight in late October, "I would more than entertain it, I’m pulling for it. If there’s any way to get Julie Andrews involved, I think we would make it work. We would go to where she was and put a green screen behind her and just make it happen."  Her participation in the project seems almost official considering that back in 2019, she told Bravo's Watch What Happens Live program, "There is a script. I want to do it, Julie wants to do it, Debra Martin Chase our producer wants to do it. We all really want it to happen. It’s just, we don’t want to do it unless it’s perfect, because we love it just as much as you guys love it." Chris Pine would also like to have a role as would Heather Matarazzo who wants to return to play Mia's best friend Lily, and in a 2016 interview said enthusiastically, "If Annie and Julie are down, of course."

Location

Disney is working on The Princess Diaries 3, but where will Mia be? In Genovia? In San Francisco? The project has been in the works for quite some time-so long that before he died in 2016, Garry Marshall, the director of the first two films, was planning to set the story in New York City. Certainly, there would be no shortage of suitable cinematic vistas, but, if it were still true today, what would it mean for the character played by Hathaway? Would she be in the Big Apple because she abdicated her throne or for some special event? We would have to wait a little longer to find out because no one has speculated on a release date for the new film.