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Amanda Seyfried Explains Why She Doesn’t Think 3rd ‘Mamma Mia!’ Can Happen

Sorry, Mamma Mia! fans. Amanda Seyfried shut down the possibility of a third film being made — and her argument is valid.

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“Listen, every single person in that movie would say yes in a heartbeat, because we want to hang out with each other,” the You Should Have Left actress, 34, told Collider in an interview published on Sunday, June 21. “That’s what we talked about last time, like, did we ever think that we’d end up here again on an Island in Croatia?”

Julie Walters Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski in Mamma Mia Here We Go Again
Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski in ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.’ Universal/Moviestore/Shutterstock

Seyfried continued, “So yeah, I wish there was a Mamma Mia! 3. But I’ll tell you what — I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and I hope I’m wrong again. I don’t think there are enough ABBA songs to make a third movie. Because we’d have to use ‘Super Trooper’ again and we’d have to use ‘Mamma Mia’ again and have to use them in a different way.”

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Mamma Mia!, written by Catherine Johnson and directed by Phyllida Lloyd, made a big splash when it hit theaters in 2008. It earned $609.8 million at the worldwide box office, leading it to become the highest-grossing female-directed film at the time. (Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins later beat that record in 2017.)

Based on the Broadway musical set to songs by ABBA, Seyfried starred alongside Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters and Dominic Cooper.

A sequel to the smash hit, titled Mamma! Mia: Here We Go Again, was released in 2018.

Amanda Seyfried attends the premiere of The Art of Racing in the Rain Amanda Seyfried Explains Why She Doesnt Think Mamma Mia 3 Can Happen After Producer Teases 3rd Movie
Amanda Seyfried attends the premiere of “The Art of Racing in the Rain” at the El Capitan Theatre, in Los Angeles on August 1, 2019. Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

Related: Best Fashion From the ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ Red Carpet Premiere

During Seyfried’s interview with Collider, she explained what allowed the second film to work. “Well it’s a better story, because they had something to grow on,” she shared. “Like the first story had to match the stage show. So it was like, they were kind of stuck. With the second story, it could have been anything.”

Seyfried continued, “Having Meryl’s character [Donna] die kind of gave us so many good storylines. It was kind of a genius idea because you’re like, ‘No, we don’t want to lose her.’ But at the same time, look at what you can do. You can go back. And Lily James can play young Meryl. It was just perfect. It was so well written.”

The Mean Girls actress’ comments come after Judy Craymer, a producer for the Mamma Mia! stage production, claimed that there were plans to make a third film. “I was meant to have been getting on with that, in my head, during these months. But then I got hit with COVID fog,” she told Daily Mail on Thursday, June 18. “I think one day there will be another film, because there’s meant to be a trilogy, you see. I know Universal would like me to do it.”

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