Amanda Seyfried Explains Why Fans Will Have to Wait for “Mamma Mia 3”: 'Always Working on It'

Amanda Seyfried is shedding some light on why Mamma Mia! 3 hasn't yet begun production.

In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the premiere of her limited series, Long Bright River, which she also executive produced, the actress was asked about a third Mamma Mia! movie prompting her to joke, "Show me the money!"

In all seriousness, Seyfried continued in the interview, published Friday, March 7, "Producer Judy Craymer is always working on it, but Universal still has to release Wicked 2. The first Wicked had to stall when Mamma Mia! 2 was getting made."

"It’s an either/or situation with musicals," explained Seyfried, 39. "And I have this theory that Universal just knows we’re going to do it, so they’re not in any rush."

"And it’s just going to cost double," she added.

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Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Dominic Cooper, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski and more starred alongside Seyfried in 2008's Mamma Mia!, a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical based on ABBA's music.

The film's story revolves around Seyfried's Sophie, a young woman living on a fictional Greek island who invites three men — one of whom she believes may be her father — to her wedding in hopes of connecting with her biological father.

Seyfried and more of the film's original cast returned for Mamma Mia:! Here We Go Again (2018), which functions as both a sequel and prequel to the original movie. Lily James portrayed a younger version of Streep's character and Sophie's mother, Donna; the movie flashes back to Donna's encounters with Sophie's three possible fathers as Sophie and her husband Sky (Cooper, 46) prepare to welcome their own child in the present.

While nothing has been officially confirmed, Baranski, 72, told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2024 that Craymer, 67, was "already planning" for a third movie, adding, “She gave me the narrative plotline of how it’s going to happen. That’s all I can say!”

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Streep, 75, told Deadline in May 2024 that a meeting was “imminent” regarding proposals for her own character’s return in a third film, despite Donna's death.

"Maybe that’s the stall. They still haven’t figured out how to bring her back from the dead," Seyfried told THR in her recent interview, adding with a laugh of Streep, "From what I was told, that was her choice — so maybe it’s on her to write it."

The Emmy winner went on to say she is sure Streep "has ideas" for how she would appear as Donna once again, calling the three-time Oscar winner "a genius."

"But I hope they figure it out," Seyfried continued. "The one day that she was on set for the last movie was when it finally felt like we were all together again."

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