Anne Hathaway is giving fans a new update on The Princess Diaries 3. She revealed that the script had to be scrapped and rebuilt with a new direction. Hathaway shared the news during an appearance on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy.
The actress is currently expecting her third child. She said the pregnancy has made it hard to pin down a start date for filming.
She then turned to the script itself. Hathaway said the team recently had what she called a story breakthrough. She added that the project feels like it is moving forward in the right way.
The update was not entirely positive. Hathaway explained that the version of the script the team had been developing did not work out. They had to restart with a new approach. She admitted this is not the kind of news fans have been hoping for, but said everyone involved now feels confident this version will be the one that sticks.
One report noted that the earlier draft, written by Flora Greeson, was a completed script before the team decided to abandon it. That version reportedly kept Mia Thermopolis in a role similar to her earlier films. According to one outlet’s account, the new direction moves away from writing an adult woman as a princess and instead treats her as a queen.
Director Adele Lim joined the project in 2024. She teased that longtime fans can expect returning cast members to show up in fun ways. As of May, the shooting schedule and full production plan were still being worked out. No release date has been set.
A franchise two decades in the making
The Princess Diaries first hit theatres in 2001. Hathaway starred as Mia Thermopolis, a teenager who learns she is heir to the throne of the fictional kingdom of Genovia. Julie Andrews played her grandmother, Queen Clarisse Renaldi, in a role that helped define the film for a generation of viewers.
A sequel followed in 2004, titled The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. Together, the two films earned about US$300mil worldwide. Fans have waited more than 20 years for a third chapter.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported in 2022 that a script for a third film was already in development. Deadline reported in 2024 that Lim had been brought on to direct, with Greeson attached to write. – The Statesman/ANN
