“Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” sequel is happening — complete with its original stars, director says

Stephan Elliott revealed that Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp — who played the original film's fabulous trio of drag queens — are all "onboard."

Mitzi Del Bra, Felicia Jollygoodfellow, and Bernadette Bassenger are hitting the road once again!

Director Stephan Elliott says a sequel to his Oscar-winning 1994 film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, is on the way — and its original stars Hugo Weaving, Terence Stamp, and Guy Pearce are all “onboard” to reprise their roles. Elliott — who will serve as writer, director, and producer on the project — told The Guardian Australia that the movie's script is already completed but that negotiations with production companies and financiers are still underway. 

Elliott was initially opposed to penning a sequel to the cult classic, which follows three drag queens — Anthony "Tick" Belrose/Mitzi Del Bra (Weaving), Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Pearce), and trans woman Bernadette Bassenger (Stamp) — as they drive a tour bus named Priscilla from Sydney to Alice Springs in Australia. However, the director changed his tune, realizing, “I had something that needed to be said.”

“People have been screaming for me to do this for 30 years. And suddenly I had the realization that we’re all getting old. We’re losing people,” he told the outlet. “And with Trump coming in now — it’s all about to erupt again. Somebody said to me, ‘Is this the right time to make this film?’ I said, ‘It is the perfect time to make this film.’”

Elliott revealed that he spent five years writing the sequel's script and credited the loss of his father and mother, who died in 2020 and 2023, for pushing him to finally finish it.

“This is not a dire story — it is pretty extravagant," he said. "I’m going to give RuPaul a run for her money, let me tell you that. But I don’t want to repeat myself, so it’s taken me a long while to come up with something, to realize that there’s something that needs to be said about tolerance.”

Elliott noted that Stamp, now 85, also thinks the trio have more stories to tell. “It took him a long time to think about it until he got there,” the director recalled, “but eventually he said to me, ‘You know what? You’re right. We’re not finished yet. The story is untold.’”

He also gave a brief tease of what fans can expect from the forthcoming film. “You have to remember that Tick had a kid — now that kid has grown up, and now he’s got his own family,” Elliott said. “We have our three principals, but we have to build in the new world.”

And yes, Priscilla will return too — especially because the bus was recently discovered in New South Wales after going missing shortly after shooting wrapped decades ago.

"When the bus surfaced it felt like, 'Is this some kind of celestial lineup?'" Elliott said. "There's lots of work to be done. But we're off."

Representatives for Elliott, Weaving, Stamp, and Pearce did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

Deadline was the first to report the news of the sequel.

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