Canceled sequel
In 2001, Bonnie Hunt began to develop Mrs. Doubtfire 2. Anne Fine had not written a follow-up to Alias Madame Doubtfire, and writing for the sequel did not begin until 2003. Robin Williams was set to return in disguise as the eponymous Mrs. Doubtfire. Rewriting began in 2006 because Williams was unhappy with the plot in the new script. The film had been anticipated for release in late 2007, but following further script problems, the sequel was scrapped in December 2006.
In 2006, in a Newsday interview, Williams said that the sequel was indefinitely scrapped, stating his reasons:
The script they had just didn't work. The sequel's story involved Daniel as Mrs. Doubtfire moving close to Lydia's college, so he could keep an eye on her.
Also, in December that year, during an interview on BBC Radio 1 by DJ Edith Bowman, Williams said that if it was not going to be done right, then it was not worth doing, and that there would not be a sequel with him in it.
In August 2010, on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Williams again brought up the topic of a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire. He blamed the script not being right as the reason why a sequel was not made. He claimed that the script had been written three times and failed, and there was no mention of any ongoing work on the project. Furthermore, in December 2011, during an interview by Moviehole, Williams again stated that the chances of a sequel are "highly unlikely".
In 2011, Williams said:
They could never write it. They kept trying and it doesn't work... because at the end of the first one they reveal who [Mrs. Doubtfire] is. So it ends up being her for five minutes and then she transitions into some old Russian woman. They so far can't crack it.
In 2014, Chris Columbus stated, in turn:
We're talking about a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire. We've [he and Williams] talked about it, and the studio is interested in it. The thing that fascinates me about a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire is with most actors who create an iconic character like Mrs. Doubtfire, when you come back and do that character, well, you're twenty years older so, you're not going to look the same. The cool thing with Mrs. Doubtfire is there's a character, there's a woman, who is actually going to look exactly as she did in 1993.
In April 2014, a sequel was announced to be in development at 20th Century Fox. Williams and Columbus were expected to return, and Elf screenwriter David Berenbaum was hired to write the script. Initial reception to the announcement was mixed, with some people fearing that the sequel would revive certain misgivings about the transgender community and set the LGBTQ awareness progress back two and a half decades, especially after an image of the character was used to mock the trans community at a medical insurance coverage reform in 2013. Matthew Lawrence, Lisa Jakub and Pierce Brosnan had expressed interest in reprising their respective characters for the sequel. However, Mara Wilson, who played Natalie Hillard in the original film, expressed no interest in returning for the sequel. Following Williams's death in August 2014, plans for a sequel were put on hold, then again canceled.
In August 2014, shortly after Williams's death, it was revealed that Williams had grown weary working on film sets because it tended to take him away from his family for extended periods of time, and he signed on for the sequel "purely out of necessity". In August 2015, Columbus revealed that the sequel came to be after someone came up with a very interesting idea, and that his conversation with Williams about the subject was the last time he ever talked to the actor. In December 2021, Columbus stated that a sequel was impossible without Robin Williams's involvement. In November 2023, Columbus stated he would be very vocal about it if Disney (who owns the rights to the film following their purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019) ever made it.
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