Whoopi Goldberg says they're "readjusting" aspects of Sister Act 3 after the death of Maggie Smith (2025)

Whoopi Goldberg’s long-gestating Sister Act 3 is steadily coming together, but only after some necessary adjustments. During an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The View host and Academy Award-winning actress said the death of her Sister Act co-star, Maggie Smith, has led to some changes for the film. Smith played Mother Superior in 1992’s Sister Act and its sequel, Sister Act: Back in the Habit. Smith’s performance as the no-nonsense nun is one of the highlights of the series, and filming a sequel won’t be the same without her.

“We’re having to make some readjustments because we just lost Maggie Smith, as you know,” Goldberg said. “And so, we will get it done. We will get it done. It’s a shift.”

In Sister Act, Goldberg plays a lounge singer named Deloris Van Cartier,who, after witnessing a murder, is brought to Saint Katherine’s Convent in Saint Katherine’s Parish as part of an elaborate witness protection plan. While there, Deloris, as Sister Mary Clarence, soon becomes the church’s new choir director, and hilarity ensues. Sister Act prayed at the altar of $231M at the box office against a $31M budget.

Goldberg has been holding the role of Mother Superior for Smith while working out the details of Sister Act 3. Goldberg wanted Smith to film when a spot opened up in her busy schedule. Sadly, Maggie Smith died in September after battling breast cancer. She was 89.

Speaking about Sister Act 3 on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2020, Goldberg said she wanted to get original members of the cast together for another film.

“For a long time, they kept saying no one wanted to see it. And then quite recently, it turns out, that that may not be true,”Goldberg explained to Corden.“People may want to see it. So we’re working diligently to try to figure out how to get the gang together and come back.”

Should they recast Smith’s Mother Superior for the third film in the franchise or introduce someone new? We’ll keep watching the project’s progress to find out. Are you excited about Sister Act 3? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.