When we talk about the best ‘80s movies, it’d be inconceivable for The Princess Bride not to come up. The 1987 comedy adventure is endlessly quotable, and a huge part of pop culture, even though it’s been over 35 years since its release. When a movie is as successful as The Princess Bride, the Hollywood question that always comes up is whether it will get a remake, a sequel or be left alone. Robin Wright has just weighed in on that conversation.
These days, it feels like just about every classic is coming back around. But, could (or should) that happen for The Princess Bride? Here’s what Wright had to say:
Sometime after we hit the 30-year mark, the cast did a Zoom call, and a couple of actors were like, ‘We’ve been asked if we’ll do a sequel,’ and I was like, ‘Well, a lot of us are going to be in a wheelchair.’ So no, no, that will never happen.
When Robin Wright talked about the possibility of a sequel to AARP, she briefly commented on why she thinks a Princess Bride sequel will “never” happen. It sounds like she thinks the cast is too old at this point to embody their characters again. Wright herself is 59, Cary Elwes is 62, Mandy Patinkin is 72, Christopher Sarandon is 83 and Wallace Shawn is 81. André the Giant sadly died at the age of 46 back in 1993 due to congestive heart failure.
While Wright’s words suggest the time has long passed for another Princess Bride movie to happen, there are also a couple of points to make here. What would even be the point of bringing the whole cast back for another Princess Bride? What story needs to be told? And, considering the unique magic of the original film, it would likely seem simply impossible to recapture that magic as well.
The movie’s director Rob Reiner spoke about the topic to CBR while at San Diego Comic-Con, saying that he would never direct a sequel unless the writer William Goldman was on board, and he apparently tried to write a book called Buttercup’s Baby, and three chapters in he said it wasn’t “working” and decided he didn’t want to “go there.”
Cary Elwes shared his thoughts on more Princess Bride back in 2021, saying he felt it was “best left alone” while calling out Hollywood for making so many reboots and remakes so “they don’t have to spend as much on marketing”.
While a lot of famous movies do find a way into a reboot or remake, it definitely seems like the creatives and cast agree that The Princess Bride shouldn’t become a franchise. The movie is so iconic and fun that one time stormin’ the castle is enough.