Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | September 29, 2025
When the legendary Terence Stamp died last month at the age of 87, he left behind an incredible filmography of iconic and ground-breaking roles. It was assumed that his last credited performance would be in Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, which was released in 2021. But it turns out he had an ace up his bejeweled and feathered sleeve: the sequel to Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
The Australian comedy about a trio of drag queens on the most stylish cross-country road trip of the decade was a big hit that helped to birth a new mainstream era of Aussie cinema. It won an Oscar, inspired a hit stage musical, and made international stars of Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving. For my money, it also features one of Stamp’s best performances, as the bereaved trans woman Bernadette, who is both scathingly funny and maybe the only sane one on the bus. She gets all the best jokes (“Why don’t you just light your tampon, and blow your box apart? Because it’s the only bang you’re ever gonna get, sweetheart!”) but also the most pathos. Most performances where cis men play trans women are laden with cliches and smarm. This one isn’t.
Writer-director Stephan Elliott had talked about making a sequel for several years, but after Stamp’s passing, it was assumed the project was dead. Nope!
As Elliott revealed to Deadline, the movie is in pre-production, and Stamp shot all of his scenes before his passing. COVID-19 had put the brakes on their plans for a while, and “Terence wasn’t getting any younger, and that’s a fact he loved to shove down our throats almost every day.”
“So the clock clicked on, and then when the AI wars broke out, Terence was indignant that he didn’t want a digital clone of himself playing Bernadette. He wanted the chance to put the character down himself. And I will quote him in this case. He said: ‘Just in case I don’t make the start line.’” […] “and with the blessing of him and his family, Guy, Hugo and the financiers, I decided to pre-shoot all the Bernadette scenes.”
Hell yeah. Suck it, AI. I appreciate the sheer spite of an octogenarian in semi-retirement deciding to strap on the wig and heels once more, if only to ensure that the plagiarism machine didn’t steal his face. Bernadette would approve.
As Elliott notes, there’s still a lot they’ll need to do in order to incorporate Stamp’s scenes into a cohesive movie alongside Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce. It’s been done before, though, sometimes well and other times like CGI Carrie Fisher in The Rise of Skywalker. Whatever the case, it’s surely going to be emotional as all hell seeing Stamp one last time. Just don’t play f**king ABBA over Bernadette’s big moment.
