Olivia Colman Joins Paddington 3
Olivia Colman is joining Paddington 3 as The Reverand Mother.
The infinitely adorable Paddington Bear is coming back to theaters, and he has company. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Olivia Colman, the Oscar-winning star of The Favourite and Marvel’s Secret Invasion, will join the cast of Paddington in Peru. The third installment in the beloved film franchise is being produced by StudioCanal, with U.S. distribution to be handled by Sony Pictures.
The film will follow Paddington from his adopted home in London to his original home in “darkest Peru.” There he will encounter The Reverend Mother, the Olivia Colman character who runs a retirement home for bears. One of those bears will be Paddington’s Aunt Lucy, to be voiced by The Crown actress Imelda Staunton.
Joining Olivia Colman are franchise newcomers Antonio Banderas and Rachel Ziegler, who are rumored to play a father/daughter riverboat team that will help Paddington along his journey through Peru.
Mary Poppins Returns actress Emily Mortimer is set to take over the role of Mrs. Brown from Sally Hawkins, who played Paddington’s adopted mother in the first two films. Pedro Pascal has also been rumored to join the film as the story’s villain.
Little else is known about the plot of Paddington in Peru, but the film is sure to feature the polite young bear in yet another series of innocent mishaps. Olivia Colman joins the primarily English cast to bring to life the latest adventure of the beloved icon of British children’s literature.
Paddington Bear was introduced as a literary character in 1958. Dozens of Paddington stories have followed, cementing the bear as a cultural mainstay. The first two Paddington films, released in 2014 and 2017, were extraordinarily well received both critically and at the box office; their high marks and undeniable charm have made the films cult classics.
Olivia Colman has led a long and busy career. She started as a day player on British television shows in the 2000s, eventually landing a recurring role on the series Green Wing in 2004. She appeared in Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz in 2007, then starred alongside Meryl Streep in 2011’s The Iron Lady.
As her profile as an actress rose, Olivia Colman began her working relationship with director Yorgos Lanthimos with 2015’s The Lobster. She took the lead with Emma Stone in Lanthimos’s next film, The Favourite, which earned Colman an Academy Award in 2019. She has since been nominated for the prestigious award two more times.
Olivia Colman stays busy, bouncing between prestige films, blockbusters, and television. In 2023 alone, Colman has already appeared in a miniseries adaptation of Great Expectations, an episode of FX’s The Bear, and the Marvel series Secret Invasion. Still to come are her turns in Season 2 of the Netflix series Heartstopper and the Timothée Chalamet-led film Wonka.
For Paddington in Peru, Olivia Colman will work with first-time feature director Dougal Wilson. Wilson is known for award-winning commercial and music video work, including pieces for brands and bands like Apple, Coca-Cola, LCD Soundsystem, and Coldplay. The first two Paddington films were directed by Wonka helmer Paul King.
Olivia Colman will make another fine addition to the charming cast of the Paddington franchise. These witty, heartwarming films have become film mainstays for people around the world in recent years, and now they will add an actress who has done just the same.
