Princess Diaries' Author Hilariously Explains How She Reacted To Disney Killing Character For Julie Andrews

Disney recently announced that a third installment of its beloved The Princess Diaries franchise is in the works, and with it some secrets about the original have come to light.

Specifically, that the father of Princess Mia, the lead character played by Anne Hathaway, was killed off for the express purpose of giving the iconic Julia Andrews more lines.

Princess Mia's father's death is a huge departure from the source material by novelist Meg Cabot, one that many authors would bristle at. But hey, it's Julie Andrews!

And in a recent interview to promote the newly released The Princess Diaries: The Graphic Novel, Cabot herself said she was not just okay with the change, she's downright happy about it. Anything to give Andrews more screen time!

For the uninitiated, The Princess Diaries centers on Hathaway's Mia, an awkward teen in a bit of an "ugly duckling" phase, who finds out she is the heir to the throne of the fictional country Genovia.

Soon she's whisked away from her regular-teen life into the glamour and romance of European royalty to learn how to take over for her grandmother, Queen Clarisse of Genovia.

Andrews, of course, is an absolute icon of film and theatre who's appeared in some of the most beloved films in history, notably The Sound of Music and the classic musical Victor/Victoria.

And it seems the film's producers were extra eager to capitalize on the beloved legend, because Cabot told CBS Mornings that in the lead-up to the film she got a phone call with bad news... that ended up being good news, in a way.

She explained:

“They actually called me and they go, ‘Well, we have some bad news. We have to kill the dad in your book.' And I was like, ‘Why? What did he do?’”

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They went on to say:

“We have an actress that we want to play the grandmother and she’s a really great actress and she hasn’t done anything in a while and we really want to give her more lines."

"So, we’re going to kill the dad and give this actress the dead dad lines.”

This is the part where most writers would probably roll their eyes and grumble, "ugh, HOLLYWOOD." And Cabot did too—until she found out the actress in question was Julie Andrews.

“I said, ‘kill the dad.' Bye, dad! It’s Julie. You’re out."

On social media, fans of the beloved film series and Andrews alike were right there with Cabot.

The series' first sequel came in 2004 with The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, which featured Andrews singing for the first time since a botched 1997 throat surgery permanently damaged her voice.

Cabot said the third installment, which has been confirmed by Hathaway, is currently in pre-production.

She told CBS Mornings:

"We are castle shopping right now... I’m like, ‘We need to go to Monaco for that,’ but we’ll see.”

Andrews, 90, hasn't been confirmed to be returning, but her legend surely will loom large over the film regardless.