Priscilla, Queen of the Desert Sequel in the Works With Original Director and Cast

It looks like the story of the cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is far from over. On Friday night, it was confirmed that a sequel to the 1994 film is in the works. The currently untitled sequel will bring back a number of cast and crew members from the original, including director Stephan Elliott and stars Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving. Elliott is reportedly seeking a producing partner for the sequel. While plot details are currently under wraps, the sequel for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert would feature a grown-up version of Benji, the son of Pearce’s character in the original film.

“I’m not repeating myself, we’ll start the new film in Australia, but by God, we’re going on one helluva journey,” Elliott revealed in a recent interview. “The original cast is on board, I’ve got a script that everybody likes, we’re still working out deals. … It’s happening.” 

What Is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert About?

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert follows a transgender woman named Bernadette (Stamp) and two drag queens, Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Weaving) and Tick/Mitzi Del Bra (Pearce) as they road trip around the Australian Outback in a bus nicknamed Priscilla. The film also starred Bill Hunter, Sarah Chadwick, Mark Holmes, Julia Cortez, Ken Radley, Daniel Kellie, and Leighton Picken. 

“At the time we honestly didn’t realise it,” Elliott previously said of Priscilla’s cultural impact in an interview with Cream. “I was a kid; I was 26 years old. I wrote the script in two weeks and honestly didn’t have any expectations, or particularly care. I just said, “You know what? It’s only costing a million dollars. Let’s have a really good time making it and the honest truth is, it will probably go straight to DVD”. I went forward with that attitude, thinking let’s just have fun. But then the complete opposite happened and we’d made one of the greatest cult films of all time. It’s very hard to live down. For years I was quite angry with it because all people kept asking me was, “Where’s the next Priscilla?” and it got to the point where I realised I’m never going to live up to it and I’ve got to stop bothering and just get on with making other movies.”

Is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert a Musical?

This sequel is the latest extension of the Priscilla story, after Elliott and Allan Scott collaborated on a jukebox musical version, which ultimately appeared on Broadway in 2011. The original film features a number of hit songs, including ABBA’s “Mama Mia,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” CeCe Peniston’s “Finally” and Charlene’s “Never Been to Me.”

“[Polygram Records] picked up the film for no money, buying half the rights from the Australian government,” Elliott told The Hollywood Reporter in a previous interview. “Polygram said, ‘Oh, by the way, you have to use our library. That’s the deal.’ I said, ‘OK, well let’s have a look.’” It turned out Polygram had recently acquired the Motown catalog, which included ABBA. “Talk about a chocolate box that fell from out of nowhere — all those songs!”

h/t: Deadline