If you grew up in the nineties, “Sister Act” wasn’t just a movie. It was the VHS you wore out, the choir robes you wished you could try on, and the reason a whole generation knows every word of “Oh Happy Day” and “Joyful, Joyful.” More than thirty years later, Whoopi Goldberg is still fighting to give us one more verse.
In a new exclusive interview with People, Goldberg opened up about the long, winding road to “Sister Act 3,” and she didn’t hide her frustration. “This is like seven, eight years now going on,” she said.
She also made the case better than any studio executive could: “I don’t think they really understand the relationship people have to ‘Sister Act’ because everybody grew up with it. So, I think they’ll let us do it. I just hope it’s sooner rather than later because I’m getting old!”
It’s hard to argue with her. The 1992 original turned Deloris Van Cartier, a Reno lounge singer hiding out in a San Francisco convent, into one of the most beloved characters of the decade, earning $232 million worldwide. The 1993 sequel gave us the St. Francis choir and one of the great movie singalongs of all time.
Talk of a third film first surfaced in 2015. In December 2020, Disney announced Goldberg had officially signed on, with Tyler Perry producing and the film headed to Disney+. Then, silence. Years of it.
Goldberg noted that Disney has found time for “about four reboots” since, pointing to “Hocus Pocus 2,” “Freakier Friday,” “Camp Rock 3,” and the upcoming “The Princess Diaries 3.”
The most poignant part of the interview: the late Maggie Smith, the formidable Reverend Mother, had verbally agreed to return before her death in September 2024. “When we thought we had it the first time, she was waiting for the completed script,” Goldberg said. “Then people started saying, ‘Well, we want to change this for this,’ and then it got mired, as movies do.”
Still, Goldberg isn’t giving up. She told People she’s “cautiously optimistic that we may see movement,” and when that day comes, she’s ready.
“I want to put those boots on,” she said. “I want to put that hair on! I want to put on my habit! I am ready.”