Entertainment

Princess Diaries 3 Is Still Happening — Here’s Where It Stands

By Erica Coleman · April 24, 2026

Two decades after the last film, Princess Diaries 3 is still moving toward a screen near you — slowly, but with a team in place.

Kathleen Marshall, daughter of the late director Garry Marshall who helmed the original 2001 film and its 2004 sequel, told People magazine that the project is still “coming along” and that a strong creative team has been assembled around it. She stopped short of announcing a production start date or a release timeline, but her confirmation that the project remains active is the clearest signal in months that the long-anticipated sequel is not in development limbo.

Anne Hathaway, who played Mia Thermopolis in the original films, has previously confirmed her involvement in the third installment. The actress and Oscar winner has said publicly that returning to the role she first played at age 18 is something she is genuinely enthusiastic about — not simply a legacy project she is attached to by obligation.

The original Princess Diaries — based on Meg Cabot’s bestselling young adult novel series — became a breakout hit for both Hathaway and Disney, grossing more than $108 million worldwide on a modest budget and launching a franchise that defined a generation of Disney family films in the early 2000s. The sequel, Royal Engagement, performed similarly well and left the story at a point where a natural continuation exists.

What has taken so long is the combination of factors that delays most beloved-property sequels: scheduling around A-list talent whose careers have expanded significantly since the original films, the challenge of writing a script that honors what made the originals beloved without simply recycling them, and the industry-wide disruption of the pandemic years, which pushed nearly every long-development project back by at least two years.

The Marshall family’s involvement in the confirmation is meaningful beyond sentiment. Garry Marshall, who died in 2016, built his career on warmhearted, commercially reliable films with broad audience appeal — Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine’s Day — and the Princess Diaries franchise is considered a signature piece of that legacy. His daughter’s active role in shepherding the third film forward suggests the project has both family blessing and institutional momentum behind it.

No casting beyond Hathaway has been officially confirmed. No director has been announced. No release window has been set. What Kathleen Marshall’s confirmation does is move the project from rumor to active development in the public record — which, for a franchise with this level of audience affection, is news worth noting.