Amanda Seyfried believes Universal bosses “probably can’t afford” to re-hire the original Mamma Mia! cast for a third movie.

In an oral history of Mamma Mia! for Vogue on Wednesday, the Mean Girls actress cast doubt upon the studio signing off on the original star-studded cast getting back together for a rumoured third film.

“I dare you to show me one person who doesn’t want a third Mamma Mia!” she began. “Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either. 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.”

However, Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley simply told Vogue that the studio would “love to make a third movie”, which has been discussed on and off since the release of the second film, 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.

Elsewhere in the oral history, Seyfried’s co-star Stellan Skarsgard quipped, “I will be in an urn by the time there’s a script for Mamma Mia 3 but I will gladly participate as a pile of ashes.”

Their co-star Meryl Streep, whose character was killed off in the second film, also expressed interest in making a comeback.

“I told (producer 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,” she joked. “We may have to call it Grand-Mamma Mia! by the time we make it!”

The Mamma Mia! franchise also stars Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, among others.

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