Because everyone was demanding it, Walt Disney Studios has announced Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda will star in Mary Poppins Return, the sequel to the 1964 flick.
Blunt has been cast as Mary Poppins and Miranda will play a new character, a street lamplighter named Jack. Drawing from the wealth of material in P.L. Travers’ seven additional novels, the story will take place in Depression-era London (when the books were originally written) and follows a now-grown Jane and Michael Banks, who, along with Michael’s three children, are visited by the enigmatic Mary Poppins following a personal loss. Through her unique magical skills, and with the aid of her friend Jack, she helps the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.
The movie will be directed by Robert Marshall, and will have the same producing team who brought us the film adaptation of Into the Woods.
“I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by Disney to bring P.L. Travers’ further adventures to the screen. The iconic original film means so much to me personally, and I look forward to creating an original movie musical that can bring Mary Poppins, and her message that childlike wonder can be found in even the most challenging of times, to a whole new generation,” says Marshall.
I haven’t read any of the Mary Poppins books, so I don’t know if this new story is based on “Mary Poppins Comes Back”, or if this is a new tale written by David Magee. I guess we’ll find out when Mary Poppins Returns arrives on December 25th, 2018.
