- - Stellan Skarsgård Explains Why Meryl Streep’s Character Donna Could Be ‘Brought Back from the Dead’ for “Mamma Mia 3”

Brian Anthony Hernandez, Daniela AvilaJanuary 17, 2026 at 11:30 PM

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Frazer Harrison/WireImage; Jeff Spicer/Getty

Stellan Skarsgård in 2026; Meryl Streep in 2025 -

Stellan Skarsgård discussed Meryl Streep’s Mamma Mia! character, Donna, while backstage at the 2026 Golden Globes

The actor revealed that “a lot of people are working on” bringing Donna “back from the dead” for Mamma Mia 3

Skarsgård played Donna’s former fling Bill in the 2008 musical romantic comedy as well as in the 2018 prequel-sequel

Here we go again! Chatter about Meryl Streep’s Mamma Mia! character, Donna, returning for the potential Mamma Mia 3 film is abuzz again.

After winning Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his performance in Sentimental Value at the 2026 Golden Globes on Jan. 11, Stellan Skarsgård answered a question about whether Donna can be resurrected.

“She can be brought back from the dead — everybody can be brought back from the dead in the movies — and in the movies, she’s fantastic,” Skarsgård, 74, told members of the media at the ceremony’s press room.

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From left: Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep, Stellan Skarsgård and Colin Firth in ‘Mamma Mia!’ (2008)

In 2018’s prequel-sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, the follow-up to the 2008 original, Donna dies off-screen from an unspecified illness.

Skarsgård played one of Donna’s former flings, Bill, in both films.

“A lot of people are working on it, to bring her back,” Skarsgård revealed of Streep, 76, and her beloved character at the Golden Globes.

Kevork Djansezian/CBS via Getty

Stellan Skarsgård wins at the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, 2026

A script for Mamma Mia 3 has been completed and the film remains in development, according to producer Judy Craymer. “Well, we know what we want to do with the movie, and it will happen,” Craymer told Deadline in May while discussing Sabrina Carpenter potentially joining the cast.

However, this potential third film in the franchise has not been publicly greenlit, with no cast announcements made yet either.

Streep, meanwhile, is eager to return somehow.

In Vogue’s “Oral History of Mamma Mia!” published in 2023, the actress said, “If there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there."

"I’m up for anything," the three-time Oscar winner continued. “I told Judy 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. We may have to call it Grand-Mamma Mia! by the time we make it!”

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Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried in ‘Mamma Mia!’ (2008)

Amanda Seyfried, who plays Donna’s daughter, Sophie, in the first two musical romantic comedies, is more than ready to return to the franchise.

“I have no idea where the story is going to go, but I know there’s going to be a lot of singing and dancing,” Seyfried, 40, told PEOPLE in December. “I’m going to keep campaigning for that movie until I’m blue in the face.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”