Julie Andrews has confirmed that she won’t be reprising her role of Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the upcoming The Princess Diaries 3.
In a recent interview with InStyle, the Mary Poppins star said she had “passed” on the chance to star in the third instalment in the Anne Hathaway film series.
The 90-year-old explained: “I think I’m retired, really, would be about the best description for that.”
Although the film’s creative team were eager to have the cinema legend return, she said she felt she had to turn them down.
“It was very very hard to say ‘no’,” she claimed. “But I did because I thought I had a wonderful ride, and this one I felt would flourish very well and wouldn’t need Granny going in there at my age.”
During a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar winner opened up about what how she views her career now.
“I’m not completely retired,” she told the outlet. “But it’s a different kind of work that I do these days – [writing] books, and I do a lot of recording of podcasts and voiceovers. But truly, I don’t think I should be a part of [The Princess Diaries 3].”
“It’s still lovely to be working on things,” she added. “That’s really the most stimulating, but not necessarily on camera.”
Most notably, she has lent her voice to Lady Whistledown on Netflix’s Bridgerton series in recent years, a role she completes in her at-home recording studio.
“It isn’t that I’m not enthusiastic for it. It’s just that I really don’t feel I should be part of it now,” she explained.
While we’re sad to not see Queen Clarisse arrive precisely on time for the next Princess Diaries sequel, the Sound Of Music star previously cast doubt on her return when the film was confirmed in 2022.
“I think we know that it’s probably not going to be possible,” Julie told Access Hollywood at the time. “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.”
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Anne Hathaway recently revealed the third instalment was being temporarily put on pause due to her third pregnancy.
“I’m busy making baby No. 3 and that has sort of taken the place of knowing exactly when I can make Princess Diaries 3,” Anne admitted during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy last month.
“But I can say I think we had a story breakthrough. I think we are moving in the right direction. The script that we were working on — we kind of had to start over with this new direction, which is not the update I think anybody wants, but we all feel really good that this is gonna be the one,” the Devil Wears Prada actor added.
The Princess Diaries was originally released in 2001 with Anne playing Mia Thermopolis, a teenager from San Francisco who discovers that she is the heir apparent to the throne of the fictional Genovia.
Julie played her grandmother, who taught the clumsy, awkward teen how to be elegant royalty.
The 2004 sequel also reunited Anne and Julie as granddaughter and grandmother, as the former navigated life in Genovia, and tried to find a suitor.
