Julie Andrews turned down Disney’s Princess Diaries 3
The beloved actress says she's mostly retired now.
Julie Andrews confirmed she won’t return as Queen Clarisse in Disney’s Princess Diaries 3, telling InStyle she “probably passed” and is “retired, really.” At 90, she says the story belongs to Anne Hathaway’s Mia now, and the sequel doesn’t need “Granny going in there.”
Julie Andrews is officially sitting out Disney‘s long-awaited Princess Diaries 3, and she’s at peace with it.
The 90-year-old icon confirmed she turned down the offer to return as Queen Clarisse Renaldi, the role she played opposite Anne Hathaway in 2001’s The Princess Diaries and its 2004 sequel. She told InStyle the creative team spent all of last year trying to get her back.
“I think I probably passed,” Andrews said. “I think I’m retired, really, would be about the best description for that.”
It’s a gentle exit, and a very Julie Andrews one.
Why Julie Andrews said no to Princess Diaries 3
“It was very very hard to say ‘no,’ but I did because I thought I had a wonderful ride,” Andrews told InStyle, “and this one I felt would flourish very well and wouldn’t need Granny going in there at my age.”
She put it even more plainly to TODAY. “I think the story has to continue in Princess Mia. It’s her story. It’s not really mine.” So this is a deliberate handoff, an actress deciding the sequel belongs to Hathaway’s character and stepping back so it can be about her.
That’s a rare and graceful way to leave a beloved role, especially one fans have wanted back for two decades.
Julie Andrews isn’t fully retired, exactly
Andrews used the word herself, but she’s also been careful to qualify it. “I’m not completely retired, but it’s a different kind of work that I do these days,” she told The Hollywood Reporter, pointing to writing children’s books, recording podcasts, and doing voiceover work.
She hasn’t done a live-action on-screen role in years, but she’s stayed busy in voice work, lending her voice to Minions: The Rise of Gru and Aquaman, and narrating as Lady Whistledown on Netflix’s Bridgerton. “I do it mostly to keep my brain alive,” she said of the voice roles.
So the accurate picture isn’t a full retirement. It’s a legend who stepped back from being on camera while staying creative in quieter ways.
Princess Diaries 3 is still happening without her
The good news for fans: the movie is moving forward, even without Queen Clarisse.
Hathaway is returning as Mia Thermopolis and confirmed the project is progressing. “I think we had a story breakthrough,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “The script that we were working on, we kind of had to start over with this new direction, which is not the update I think anybody wants, but we all feel really good that this is gonna be the one.”
Disney has been developing the third film since 2022. Debra Martin Chase, who produced the first two, is back, with the franchise trying to crack a story worthy of the long wait. There’s no release date yet.
The one shadow over it, beyond Andrews’ absence, is that original director Garry Marshall died in 2016, so the sequel moves ahead without two of the people most associated with the originals.
A fitting moment for Julie Andrews
The timing lands with a bit of poetry, because Andrews is having a real moment right now.
Her comments came while promoting Shy, a new children’s book co-written with her daughter, and they arrive the same month Disney announced a Disney+ documentary on her whole career, due in 2027. So as she closes the door on one Disney role, Disney is busy celebrating the six decades of them that came before.
Passing on Princess Diaries 3 isn’t a sad ending. It’s a 90-year-old at the height of her legacy deciding she’s said what she needed to say as Queen Clarisse, and trusting the next chapter to the princess she helped crown. Genovia’s in good hands. Granny just doesn’t need to make the trip.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
InStyle (August 2026), Andrews’ “I probably passed” and “retired, really” quotes and the detail about the creative team pursuing her all year
The Hollywood Reporter (August 2026), Andrews’ “not completely retired” clarification, her current book and voiceover work, and Hathaway’s “story breakthrough” quote
TODAY (August 2026), Andrews’ “it’s her story, not really mine” comment
Variety (August 11, 2026), the report confirming she declined and the franchise’s development history since 2022
CBS News and Deadline (2022-2023), Hathaway confirming the script and Debra Martin Chase producing