Meryl Streep would 'totally' star in Mamma Mia 3 as a reincarnated Donna: 'I'm up for anything'

Meryl Streep is ready to reconnect with her inner dancing queen.

The Oscar-winning actress said in a new oral history of Mamma Mia published by Vogue that she would "totally" be down to participate a third movie, despite her character being killed off in the 2018 sequel.

"I'm up for anything," Streep told the magazine. "I'll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there's an idea that excites me, I'm totally there."

Fans of the musical saga will recall that Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again revealed Streep's character, Donna, to have died. Her absence serves as the plot's launchpad, with daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) reopening the Hotel Villa Donna in her honor and unraveling the truth of her mother's past. Through flashbacks, Lily James enters the fold as a young Donna who meets and falls for Sophie's dads. (Streep also makes a cameo at the end of the movie.)

So how exactly would Streep return as Donna in a future film? The actress already has a few ideas.

"I told [producer Judy Craymer] if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I'm into that," Streep said. "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."

Craymer had some slightly more grounded suggestions. "We still don't really know what happened to Lily James's version of Donna in those middle years," she noted. "Or what happens to Donna and Sam after the first movie."

Regarding the decision to kill off Donna in the first place, Craymer said it was born from necessity. She explained that Streep "was hesitant about doing another film because she doesn't typically do sequels," so turning the follow-up into a combined prequel and sequel was a natural next step.

Along with Streep, Colin Firth, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, and Stellan Skarsgaard confirmed their interest in returning for a third movie. Skaragard joked that not even death would stop him from rejoining the musical extravaganza.

"I will be in an urn by the time there's a script for Mamma Mia 3," he said. "But I will gladly participate as a pile of ashes."

As for Seyfried, she indicated that everyone on the creative side is all-in, but the final decision will come down to the studio — and, of course, the money.

"Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either," she said. "The powers that be probably can't afford us, to be honest."

She continued, "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."

Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley told Vogue that the studio "would love to make a third movie, and I'll leave it at that."

This isn't the first time a threequel has been discussed. Craymer previously said she has a story idea that would bring together all the fan-favorite characters, including Donna.

"It's in its earliest stages," Craymer said earlier this year. "There is a story there, and I do think Meryl should come back — and if the script is right, she would, I think, because she really loved playing Donna."

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