![October 1, 2022, New York, NY, USA: DANIELLE DEADWYLER attends the 60th New York Film Festival Presentation of “Tillâ€, .Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, .NYC.October 1, 2022. 01 Oct 2022 Pictured: October 1, 2022, New York, NY, USA: WHOOPI GOLDBERG attends the 60th New York Film Festival Presentation of “Tillâ€, .Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, .NYC.October 1, 2022.Photo by. Photo credit: ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA903298_015.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]](https://hollywoodlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/whoopi-goldberg-gallery-add.jpg?fit=293%2C440)
Whoopi Goldberg has been trying to bring another installment to the Sister Act franchise for years. That comes as no surprise to fans, as the 1992 original was an incredible success when it debuted, winning over critics and audiences alike, to the tune of $230 million. Fresh off her Oscar win for Ghost, Whoopi was the pitch-perfect mix of humor and drama playing Sister Mary Clarence, a former nightclub singer who witnesses a mob murder and goes undercover as a nun, creating a sensational singing group along the way.
The sequel, Sister Act 2, came fast and furious a year later, with Whoopi reprising her role and Lauryn Hill joining the cast right before she made it big with The Fugees and her own solo musical career. The movie was a hit as well, taking in $125 million.
Now the third act is picking up steam after Disney first announced it back in 2020, with an anticipated streaming release on Disney+. Whoopi just asked Sheryl Lee Ralph if she’d come back for the third movie when she was a guest on The View in February 2024. Keep reading to find out everything we know about Sister Act 3, so we can all get ready to sing along with those hilarious, habit-wearing nuns!
Cast
Whoopi just happened to drop her dream cast when she stopped by Charlamagne the God’s series Hell of a Week on Oct. 13, 2022. “Hopefully we’ll get it together and get it done sooner rather than later,” the View host said about the sequel. “I’m going to ask for Keke [Palmer] to come in. I want everybody to come in. I want Lizzo to come in. I want everybody. I want the girl with the chest, what’s her name?… Nicki [Minaj]! I want Nicki to come. I want everybody. I want as many people who want to have some fun, because I really, desperately need to have some fun.”
Keke Palmer spoke with Hollywood Life exclusively and gave an update about what’s going on with her and Sister Act 3 back in November 2022. “I love that the rumors about me become so good that they become true,” Keke told HL at the time. I’m gonna go with this because I’m definitely cast in Sister Act 3 — they even have it on IMDb at this point. It’s real. So I mean, they haven’t given me the contract, honey, but I will do it for free at this point. [IMDB] did set us all up because I looked at it myself and said, ‘when do I start filming?’”
As if the stars were aligning, literally, only a week before Whoopi’s wish list, a fan-made poster for Sister Act 3 popped up on social media, touting Whoopi, Keke and Bette Midler as the cast. Keke took to her Twitter to share the poster art, writing, “God bless y’all for this manifestation over my life. [Disney], this is what they asked for I’m just here to relay.”
Around the same time, a member of the original cast, Kathy Najimy, stopped by The View where Whoopi insisted that Kathy’s highly anticipated sequel Hocus Pocus 2, helped revive interest in the Sister Act franchise. The movie, with Bette and Sarah Jessica Parker starring alongside Kathy, premiered on Sept. 30, 2022 and became the biggest movie debut on Disney+ in the U.S., per The Wrap. “It took a little while, but it’s happening,” Whoopi told Kathy onthe show, per ET. “You all helped that happen, I think, because they brought Hocus Pocus back. They finally said, ‘We might as well put those nuns back out there and see if they have any juice.'”
God bless y’all for this manifestation over my life. @WaltDisneyCo, this is what they asked for I’m just here to relay. pic.twitter.com/rTSsk1hVOG
— Keke Palmer (@KekePalmer) October 8, 2022
Blackish alum Jenifer Lewis, who co-starred with Whoopi and Kathy in the Sister Act films, also stopped by The View in Sept. 2022 and said she was ready to sign up for another one. “You know we’re still going to do that movie,” Whoopi told Jenifer, per ET, before turning to her co-hosts and adding, “I do everything I can to work with her, because she’s fun.”
When Sheryl Lee Ralph was a guest on The View on February 7, 2024, Whoopi asked her if she’d be involved in a reunion on the show to share memories from the show, and then she asked if she’d appear in the new movie. “We’re in the process of putting together 3, will you come be part of it? Whatever it is,” the comedian asked, and Sheryl nodded.
Script
Whoopi also gave a hint at the screenplay while speaking with Kathy on The View in Sept 2022, saying she should be “getting a script at the end of the month.” Whoopi added that Tyler Perry was on board as a producer. It was actually Tyler himself who gave the biggest update on a script when he stopped by the ABC talk show that same month.
“I love the idea of us making this happen but you know, the Hollywood system moves a little slower than I’d like to,” Tyler explained on The View, according to Deadline. “So we’ve got a good script. We’re off to a great start. We’re just trying to get everybody moving in the right direction so we can get it going.”
Rest assured fans, HollywoodLife will keep you posted on all the upcoming news about the next installment of your favorite singing-nun film franchise Sister Act.