After 30 years of waiting, director Stephen Elliott has confirmed a sequel for his glittering queer classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Not only will the Australian trio get back on the road, but the original cast, Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp and Hugo Weaving, will return.

The long-awaited sequel was announced by Stephen Elliott on Friday, April 19, in an interview with Deadline, saying: “The original cast is on board, I’ve got a script that everybody likes, we’re still working out deals…It’s happening.”

Elliott shared the exciting news of bringing back the three iconic characters of Bernadette (Stamp), Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Weaving) and Mitzi Del Bra (Pearce) and taking them oversees, as the sequel will not only take place in Australia.

In an interview with The Guardian, the director explained what to expect from the upcoming movie: “This is not a dire story, it is pretty extravagant. I’m going to give RuPaul a run for her money, let me tell you that,” he said.

“But I don’t want to repeat myself, so it’s taken me a long while to come up with something, to realise that there’s something that needs to be said about tolerance.”

Elliott has been working on the script for the last five years. As the famous Priscilla, Queen of the Desert bus was finally found in 2019 after disappearing for 16 years, the director felt like it was a “kind of celestial lineup”. If it feels like the stars are aligning to finally tell the whole story, Elliott also feels like it is the right time to share it.

“People have been screaming for me to do this for 30 years. And suddenly I had the realisation that we’re all getting old. We’re losing people,” he stated. “And with Trump coming in now – it’s all about to erupt again. Somebody said to me, ‘Is this the right time to make this film?’ I said, ‘It is the perfect time to make this film.”

The critically acclaimed 1994 movie follows the iconic trio of Bernadette, a trans woman, and two drag queens Adam Whutely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow and Tick/Mitzi Del Bra as they road trip on the Australian Outback. The film is named after the bus they drive around the country, ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. On their way to a cabaret show in Australia’s most remote corners, they’re met with some of the most eccentric characters.

The feathery and bejewelled movie does not miss an opportunity for a plot twist, and the trio’s expedition is as comical as it is touching. While the film may at first appear to be all wigs, sparkles and music, it is also a “dagger in the heart”, as Elliott describes it.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is one of the most acclaimed LGBTQ+ movies, as well as one of the most successful, as it grossed $29 million at the box office when it first came out. It was awarded an Oscar for Outstanding Costume Design and was nominated for two Golden Globes, one for Stamp’s performance and one for Best Musical or Comedy.

Taking the hearts of the community, it also managed to bring drag queens into the mainstream. Its impact is still relevant to this day as several on-stage musical adaptations have been touring the world since the first in 2006 in Australia, taking the story to Broadway, Tokyo and the UK.