Meryl Streep Talks Returning for a Potential 'Mamma Mia 3' as Reincarnated Donna

Meryl Streep is not only open to returning to the Mamma Mia universe but also has some intriguing ideas for her character, Donna, to make a comeback, even after being killed off in the 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

Streep, the 74-year-old Oscar-winning actress, discussed the potential for a third installment of the beloved franchise in a recent oral history of Mamma Mia for Vogue.

"I’m up for anything. I’ll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there," Streep humorously remarked about the musical films. She jokingly suggested, "I told [producer and creator] Judy [Craymer] if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I’m into that. 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, the creator of the original Broadway musical, acknowledged the backlash from fans for killing off Streep's character but emphasized the numerous possibilities for bringing the cast back.

"We went back and forth in time with the second one, so now we have the creative license to explore this world further. We still don’t really know what happened to Lily James’s version of Donna in those middle years," Craymer explained, referring to James, who portrayed the younger Donna in Here We Go Again. She added, "Or what happens to Donna and Sam [Pierce Brosnan] after the first movie? Will Harry [Colin Firth] ever settle down? I think we have to bring a certain closure to these characters. All of their odysseys lead them back to the island because that’s where they all want to be in their older years."

Amanda Seyfried, who played Sophie, appeared less optimistic about a third movie, citing financial considerations.

"Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either," Seyfried said. "The powers that be probably can’t afford us to be honest. I hate to say it because would I do Mamma Mia 3 for free—of course I would—but that’s not the business we’re in. What’s fair is fair, and I feel like a third film is gonna come down to something stupid like whether or not Universal wants to pay the money."

Streep added a touch of humor to the discussion, saying, "We may have to call it Grand-Mamma Mia! by the time we make it!"