It has been 25 years since a gawky San Francisco teenager named Mia Thermopolis discovered she was secretly the princess of Genovia, and The Princess Diaries has aged into a genuine touchstone. Released in 2001 and based on Meg Cabot’s novels, Garry Marshall’s film paired newcomer Anne Hathaway with the screen royalty of Julie Andrews as Queen Clarisse, and delivered lines fans still quote today. A sequel, Royal Engagement, followed in 2004.
For years, a third film felt like wishful thinking, especially after Marshall’s death in 2016. Now it is real: Disney has handed the reins to writer-director Adele Lim, a self-described “die-hard fan of the original” who grew up in Malaysia and credits the franchise with its “core tenets of female power, joy, and mentorship.” Hathaway, back as both star and producer, recently teased on SiriusXM that the script had a “story breakthrough,” adding, “I think we are moving in the right direction.”
Lim has confirmed the new story sits within the wider franchise universe of Olivia Harrison, Mia’s secret half-sister, though she says the plot will be its own take rather than a straight adaptation. Original producer Debra Martin Chase is back, and while Hathaway is the only confirmed returning cast member so far, Cabot has teased that Royal Engagement’s Chris Pine could reprise Nicolas Devereux — a character Lim calls “iconic.”
What the anniversary has really surfaced is why the film endures. Hathaway put it down to its audience: “It’s because of all the little girls who took it into their hearts and then never let it go and grew up with it.” Lim, one of those girls, wants the third film to grow up with them too. “Most of us are going to spend our lives being queens and not princesses,” she said, framing the sequel around Mia’s reign rather than her coronation. For a fandom that has waited two decades, that feels like the right note to end on.
