As Amanda Seyfried anticipates a return to one of her most beloved roles, the fantasy casting for her new co-stars has begun.
While sharing an update on a potential third installment in the Mamma Mia! movie musical franchise, the Oscar nominee addressed the likelihood that Sabrina Carpenter could join the cast.
“Mamma Mia 3, let’s go baby,” Seyfried told ABC News, crossing her fingers for luck. “Everybody says it’s gonna happen. But I mean, I haven’t seen a script.”
After Carpenter sang the musical’s title track by ABBA at a recent Madison Square Garden concert, Seyfried agreed the Short n’ Sweet artist could “technically” play her character Sophie’s daughter in an upcoming followup.
Although Seyfried is only 13 years older than Carpenter, the interviewer noted that “age is sort of a forgettable construct” in the franchise after Cher played Meryl Streep‘s mom in the previous film, despite only being three years apart.
“You’re right, actually, [it] doesn’t matter,” said Seyfried. “You know what? Old age makeup for me. That’s what it will be. … I’m an actor. I’ll do it. If Sabrina Carpenter wants to play my daughter, I’ll make it happen. It’s fine. I’m a big fan.”
Based on the Tony-nominated jukebox musical, Mamma Mia! (2008) follows Seyfried’s Sophie as she prepares for her wedding at her mother Donna’s (Streep) hotel on the Greek island Kalokairi. What Donna doesn’t know is that Sophie has invited the three men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård) who could potentially be the father she never met, hoping he will walk her down the aisle.
The 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again followed flashbacks of a young Donna’s (Lily James) romance with the three men in 1979, when she first arrives on the island. In the present, Sophie prepares to reopen her recently deceased mother’s hotel, for which her grandmother Ruby (Cher) makes a surprise appearance.
In May, Streep told Deadline that talks are “imminent” for the sequel, adding that “they have an idea” for the script.
Last September, she told Vogue she’s “up for anything” when it comes to reprising Donna. “If there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there,” she added.
“I told [producer Judy Craymer] if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I’m into that,” noted Streep. “Or it could be like in one of those soap operas where Donna comes back and reveals it was really her twin sister that died.”
Craymer noted the next movie could follow “Lily James’s version of Donna in those middle years. Or what happens to Donna and Sam after the first movie.”
Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley said the studio “would love to make a third movie.” Meanwhile, producer Gary Goetzman said there had “been some conversations” about a third film, adding: “I really think it’ll happen.”