<i>Mamma Mia 3</i>: What We Know So Far
The dancing queens of Mamma Mia seem bound for another encore. And they might have another diva joining them.
Rumors about a third film in the hit musical franchise have been building for years, particularly after repeated comments from Judy Craymer, the producer mastermind responsible for the various stage productions as well as their on-screen extensions. Way back in 2020, she told the Daily Mail that “I think, one day, there will be another film, because there’s meant to be a trilogy, you see,” adding that she knew “Universal [Pictures] would like me to do it.”
Five years later, Craymer has once again teased a third chapter in the Mamma Mia saga, telling Deadline in May 2025 that “we know what we want to do with the movie, and it will happen.” She even brought up pop star Sabrina Carpenter as a potential new addition to the cast, playing “a goddess or some relation who would look very much like Meryl Streep.” Although the film is not yet in production, Craymer promises it is well into development.
With that in mind, here’s everything we know so far about the trilogy-making sequel—including Streep’s potential involvement.
Is Mamma Mia 3 officially happening?Although Universal Pictures has not officially announced that a third film is imminent, Craymer has confirmed that the project is indeed in the works. As she informed Deadline in May 2025, Mamma Mia 3 is in active development. “Well, we know what we want to do with the movie, and it will happen,” she told the outlet. “And I mean, we brought together this amazing group of movie stars that were all connected through it and huge friendships evolved.”
There is, of course, good reason to believe Universal would be interested in a follow-up, considering the box office success of the previous films. The original movie, based on the hit Broadway musical, earned $609.8 million at the box office in 2008. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again grossed nearly $400 million worldwide a decade later in 2018. Nearly another decade later, Mamma Mia 3 seems poised to be just as popular.
What would Mamma Mia 3 be about?The musical movies tell the story of mother-daughter duo Donna (Streep) and Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and their lives on a secluded Greek island. When Sophie plans to get married to Sky (Dominic Cooper), she searches for the identity of her birth father. The only problem: There are three viable options for that title, played by Colin Firth (as Harry), Stellan Skarsgård (as Bill), and Pierce Brosnan (as Sam). In Here We Go Again, the island is left reeling after Donna’s death but the characters reunite for the re-opening of her hotel amid news that Sophie is pregnant.
The second movie transitioned between the present-day timeline and Donna’s past, where Young Donna (Lily James) meets Young Bill (Josh Dylan), Young Sam (Jeremy Irvine), and Young Harry (Hugh Skinner) for the first time. The movie also explored how Donna began the Dynamos supergroup with her friends, Tanya (Jessica Keenan Wynn) and Rosie (Alexa Davies). With Streep’s departure from Mamma Mia also came the arrival of Cher as Ruby, Donna’s absentee mother and a performer in her own right. She was a standout character in the sequel and revived a romance of her own with Fernando (Andy Garcia).
Mamma Mia 3, then, could further flesh out Ruby’s story while also giving us more time with Donny, Sophie’s son and Donna’s grandson. Craymer confirmed there is an existing script for the film, but she told Deadline “I’m not going there” when asked for details.
Who would be in the cast?It seems as if most of the original cast is eager to return for a third chapter. In a 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Christine Baranski, who plays Tanya, confirmed that the film was in the works and that soon “we’ll all be on some fabulous Greek or Croatian island having a blast. I hope.”
When asked by Collider in 2020 if she’d return to the world of Mamma Mia, Seyfried also said, “Listen, every single person in that movie would say yes in a heartbeat, because we want to hang out with each other. That’s what we talked about last time, like, ‘Did we ever think that we’d end up here again on an island in Croatia?’ So yeah, I wish there was a Mamma Mia 3.”
One of the more heartbreaking moments in the Mamma Mia universe was the decision to have Streep’s Donna die ahead of the sequel. However, Streep did make a few cameo appearances in the 2018 film and Seyfried says her death inspired creative storylines. Craymer confirmed to Deadline that Streep would make another appearance in Mamma Mia 3—at least in flashbacks. “Yeah, she said our after-shooting dinners were legendary,” Craymer joked.
Should “Espresso” singer Sabrina Carpenter indeed join the production, Craymer told Deadline she envisions her character as a relative of Donna’s, “a goddess or some relation who would look very much like Meryl Streep.” This isn’t the first mention of Carpenter as a potential cast member. In 2024, Seyfried told ABC News that “if Sabrina Carpenter wants to play my daughter, I’ll make it happen.”
Craymer seems keen on the idea, but she’s not sharing any more details for the time being.
As she told Deadline, “It’s not about sequels or redoing stuff. It’s about people engaging with characters, whether it’s become a habit or streaming or favorite films. It’s like listening to music over and over again. Like reading a book. You might read it twice. People read Dickens many times. No, IP continues on, and the movie is important for me creatively more than anything. But also because I think the world needs another fun experience. Cinema is having a tough time. [It] wouldn’t be a big expensive Marvel movie, but people would go.”
When might Mamma Mia 3 be released?There’s no precise timetable for when Mamma Mia 3 would hit theaters. (It will, of course, be starring in our dreams tonight.) Until then, we always have the originals.
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