I'm not going to lie, I was plenty skeptical when the news that there'd be a decades-late sequel to MARY POPPINS coming out. I also admit that the more I heard about the project, the more I came to think it might not be so bad. For one, Emily Blunt is quite a fine replacement for Julie Andrews, and the fact that the film would be taking on more characters and plotlines from other PL Travers books (like Angela Lansbury's The Balloon Lady) – rather than being a reboot of the original – was a good sign as well.
However, while the original Mary Poppins – Julie Andrews – gave her blessing to the new film, she also stated that she won't be making an appearance in it. Here's what she told MARY POPPINS RETURNS director Rob Marshall about the decision, according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
Julie was incredibly gracious, and we talked about it in a very general way but she made it clear right up front. She said, ‘This is Emily’s show, and I really want it to be Emily’s show. I don’t want it to be, “Oh, here comes that Mary Poppins.” I don’t want that. I really want her to take this and run with it, because she will be brilliant.’
That honestly makes sense. While there have been instances where the original actor who embodied the role played alongside the new actor replacing them (MAVERICK with Mel Gibson and James Garner comes to mind), it sometimes can be distracting. It's at least nice to know she agrees that Blunt will crush it.
Meanwhile, MARY POPPINS RETURNS will float into theaters Christmas 2018.