Film & TV NewsBeautiful and Heathers' Jessica Keenan Wynn Will Play a Young Christine Baranski in Mamma Mia! SequelFilming for the movie musical is scheduled to begin in September.
By
Andrew Gans
August 17, 2017
Jessica Keenan Wynn, known to theatregoers for originating the role of Heather Chandler in the Heathers musical and playing Cynthia Weil in Beautiful on Broadway, has been cast in the upcoming sequel to the blockbuster film Mamma Mia!
Variety reports Wynn will play the younger Tanya (one of Donna's best friends), with the previously announced Tony and Emmy winner Christine Baranski re-creating her role as the adult Tanya.
Also confirmed for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, whichis set to be released July 20, 2018, are Meryl Streep as Donna Sheridan, Lily James as the younger Donna, Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Sheridan, Colin Firth as Harry, Pierce Brosnan as Sam, Jeremy Irvine as the younger Sam, and Alexa Davies as the younger Rosie.
The film, which begins filming in September in Croatia and the U.K., will travel back and forth in time in order to show how various relationships grew and how the past can resonate in the present.
Wynn, who appeared in the national tour of Les Misérables, will also be seen opposite Thomas Sadoski in the upcoming film The Mimic.
The new movie features an original story and will incorporate songs heard in the first feature, as well as additional ABBA tunes. Ol Parker, who wrote the script, will also direct, with creator Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman returning to produce.
Mamma Mia! closed on Broadway in September 2015 as the eighth longest-running show in Broadway history. It premiered October 18, 2001, at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it continued through October 19, 2013. The production then transferred to its final home, the Broadhurst, on November 2, 2013. In its various productions, the show has grossed a reported $2 billion worldwide.
Hitting theatres this winter, the film will feature music by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Lebo M., and many of the voice actors from the 2019 adaptation of the original film.