Guy Pearce has offered a fresh timeline for the long-awaited sequel to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, telling Good Morning America: "Well, the sequel, which is going to be—what are we now, '26? We'll probably shoot it '27, it'll come out '28."
The update comes about a year after the death of co-star Terence Stamp, who died at age 87 last August. Stamp's family announced his passing on Aug. 17, 2025.
The original 1994 film, written and directed by Stephan Elliott, follows three drag queens — Hugo Weaving's Mitzi Del Bra, Stamp's Bernadette Bassenger and Pearce's Felicia Jollygoodfellow — as they travel across Australia in a bus named Priscilla.
In 2024, Deadline reported that a sequel was in development with the original cast set to return. Elliott said at the time: "I'm not repeating myself, we'll start the new film in Australia, but by God, we're going on one helluva journey. The original cast is on board, I've got a script that everybody likes, we're still working out deals. … It's happening."
Elliott has since revealed that, anticipating Stamp's age, he "decided to pre-shoot all the Bernadette scenes" because the actor "wasn't getting any younger, and that's a fact he loved to shove down our throats almost every day."
According to Elliott, Stamp was firm about how his character should be handled amid growing use of digital technology in film. "When the AI wars broke out, Terence was indignant that he didn't want a digital clone of himself playing Bernadette," Elliott said. "He wanted the chance to put the character down himself." Elliott added that Stamp told him: "Just in case I don't make the start line."
Photo: usbotschaftberlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
