Nearly 30 years after Whoopi Goldberg last played the all-singing nun, she’s getting back in the habit for Sister Act 3. Last December, Disney announced the project was officially moving forward, after years of being stuck in development. Now, the threequel is confirmed to be properly underway with the studio finding the film’s director and screenwriter.
Deadline has revealed that Tim Federle is set to direct the movie, which Goldberg will star in and produce alongside Tyler Perry. Federle has clearly impressed Disney with his directing work on smash-hit streaming series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which he also created and executive produces.
Deadline reports that sources tell them Disney is confident in Federle’s ability to tackle this project after being pleased with his upcoming original film, Better Nate than Ever, starring Lisa Kudrow. He follows on from Emile Ardolino, who helmed the 1992 original, and Bill Duke, who directed the 1993 sequel.
What’s more, The Nevers scribe Madhuri Shekar has likewise been hired to pen the screenplay. Back in 2015, Legally Blonde writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith were working on a complete reboot of the franchise, but with Goldberg confirmed to be back as Delores Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence, it seems this version of the script has been discarded and Shekar will start from scratch.
In case you’re not familiar with the original, Sister Act follows Goldberg as a Las Vegas lounge singer who has to go into witness protection after catching her mobster boyfriend (Harvey Keitel) killing someone. She’s placed incognito in a convent in a rundown area of San Francisco. Though the Reverend Mother (Maggie Smith) initially disproves of her influence on the other nuns, Delores ends up revitalizing the church choir and helping the neighborhood. As well as the two films, a stage musical premiered in 2006.
No plot or casting details have been revealed just yet, but Sister Act 3 is expected to be a Disney Plus exclusive. In the meantime, Whoopi Goldberg is reprising another of her iconic 1990s roles – Guinan – in Paramount Plus; Star Trek: Picard season 2.