New PADDINGTON Movie Features a Royal Cameo

Published: November 4, 2024

New PADDINGTON Movie Features a Royal Cameo

By Movieguide® Contributor

The first trailer for PADDINGTON IN PERU has been released, revealing an adventure-filled plot, new cast members and a brief cameo from a member of the Royal Family.

“When Paddington discovers his beloved Aunt Lucy has gone missing from the Home for Retired Bears, he and the Brown family head to the wilds of Peru to look for her, the only clue to her whereabouts a spot marked on an enigmatic map,” a synopsis of PADDINGTON IN PERU reads. “Determined to solve the mystery, Paddington embarks on a thrilling quest through the rainforests of the Amazon to find his aunt…and may also uncover one of the world’s most legendary treasures.”

Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Samuel Joslin, Madeleine Harris, Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent and Imelda Staunton are all reprising their roles, with Ben Whishaw returning to voice the beloved bear. Emily Mortimer is taking over Sally Hawkins’ role.

The two most notable new members of the cast? Antonio Banderas and Olivia Colman.

“Paddington is just the best person in the whole wide world,” Colman told Variety. “Imagine if everyone was like Paddington, wouldn’t that be lovely?”

She added that she signed onto PADDINGTON IN PERU with no hesitation — “Oh yeah, I mean, it’s PADDINGTON!”

“Watching brand new characters being created by Antonio and Olivia Colman was both an education and a delight to behold,” Bonneville told PEOPLE of his new castmates. “They were playful to the point of barking mad.”

In addition to Colman and Banderas, another very famous face will make a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance — Queen Elizabeth II.

A video of the late queen and Paddington Bear having tea together as part of her Jubilee celebrations in 2022 went viral, with many people even leaving Paddington’s trademark marmalade sandwiches outside Buckingham Palace after her passing.

A photo from the video will be shown in PADDINGTON IN PERU “with the consent and agreement of the royal household,” Ron Halpern, head of global productions at France’s Studiocanal, who financed the movie, told Variety.

Producer Rosie Allison added, “[The royal family] were actually very happy for it to happen. But we don’t like to make a big deal of it, because Paddington’s obviously a very modest fellow.”

“It’s amazing how it’s become so iconic and so part of the national consciousness,” Dougal Wilson, the movie’s director, told Variety. “But it does fuel my apprehension about how much is expected of the third one. All we can do is try our hardest to make the best film we can.”

PADDINGTON IN PERU premieres in the U.S. on Jan. 17, 2025.