Asking people to be in your movie is a tough habit to break.
Photo: Lou Rocco/ABC via Getty Images
As any regular viewer of The View knows, there are two questions moderator Whoopi Goldberg loves asking the show’s guests on live television. The first of which is to come back to guest co-host, an offer that never materializes, and the second is asking them to co-star with her in the long-awaited Sister Act 3. Goldberg has been struggling to make Sister Act 3 happen for years, and when Disney finally gave the project the go in 2021 with Tyler Perry as a producer, she wasted no time assembling a cast. Using her day job at The View as an open casting call, Goldberg brilliantly circumvents agents and managers by putting actors right on the spot in front of an audience. Anything that has to be done to make this movie happen — after all, what a waste it would be to miss out on a title like Sister Act 3: Breaking the Habit. Let’s look back at the many people who Goldberg has already asked to appear in this (hopefully) upcoming film, from Pope Francis to JoJo Siwa.
As Daisy Ridley took her seat for her May 25, 2024 appearance on The View, she giddily told Goldberg, “I’m a really big fan.” In turn, Goldberg responded by saying, “I know you’re an extraordinary singer, maybe we should talk about 3. But we’ll do that another time.” The sheer power of being able to refer to Sister Act 3 as simply 3, and still have a gobsmacked Ridley know exactly what she’s talking about. Most talk shows only give the guests a mug, The View gives them gigs.
While appearing on The Tonight Show in May of 2024, Goldberg revealed to Jimmy Fallon that during her recent meeting with the pope (who she says seemed to be a fan of Sister Act), she offered him a cameo in the upcoming sequel. “He said he’d see what his time was like,” Goldberg joked. The offer seems like a smart move, given that it might take an act of God to make this movie happen.
In February of 2024, Goldberg reunited with Sheryl Lee Ralph, who played the mother of Lauryn Hill’s character in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, and surprised her with an offer to return to the franchise. “We’re in the process of putting together 3, will you come be part of it? Whatever it is?” she asked.
Back when Jimmy Fallon appeared on The View in March of 2023, Goldberg doubled down on an offer she had extended to him. “You still gonna come and do Sister Act?” she asked, with the late night host confirming by telling Goldberg, “Whatever I can do to help, I will do a cameo, I will pop my head through a window and wave, I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
That conversation got the table thinking, with Joy Behar chiming in to suggest that all of the panelists join the fun. “We could all be nuns also, you know,” she said, with Alyssa Farah Griffin adding, “I’ve been pitching this.” Goldberg didn’t seem quite as receptive to this idea, but conceded that it’s technically a possibility, saying, “Yeah we could.”
While appearing on Loose Women in January of 2023, Goldberg delivered a public plea down the barrel of the camera directly to her Sister Act co-star Dame Maggie Smith. “One of the things that I want to make sure I do while I’m here is I want to let Maggie Smith know, that I’m holding the part of Mother Superior for you, because I just can’t do it with anybody but you,” she said. “So if you need me to come over here and shoot it and do whatever we have to do, we will do whatever you want us to do. Because we don’t want to do it without you, Maggie.”
In October of 2022, during an appearance on Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God, Goldberg teased her dream cast for the project. “I want everybody to come in, I want Lizzo to come in, I want everybody. I want the girl with the chest, what’s her name?” she asked, before remembering Nicki Minaj’s name, “Nicki! I want Nicki to come in.”
When Kathy Najimy, who played Sister Mary Patrick in the original films, came to the table to promote Hocus Pocus 2, she asked about the status of the third movie. Goldberg told her that it was in fact happening, but came short of extending a formal invitation. Perhaps Najimy’s return simply goes without saying! Nonetheless, Goldberg did credit the return of Hocus Pocus with inspiring Disney to let Sister Act’s nuns get back in the habit as well.
Before Jenifer Lewis’s interview on The View in September of 2022 even got started, Goldberg told her, “You know, we’re still gonna do that movie, you know that, going back,” before reminding the audience, “You know, she’s in Sister Act.” Lewis appeared in both Sister Act films as Michelle, one of Deloris Van Cartier’s background singers.
Alright, this one certainly wasn’t a formal offer, but Goldberg made a point to let JoJo Siwa know back in 2021 that casting was underway. Just imagine her introducing a convent of nuns to “gay pop.”
It’s only fitting that the famously booked Keke Palmer was the first to get this ball rolling, not even waiting for Goldberg to make the offer during her appearance on The View way back in November of 2021. “Now Whoopi, I gotta shoot my shot, like I did with Issa a little bit ago,” Palmer said, referring to tweeting her way onto Issa Rae’s Insecure. “I heard that Tyler Perry is doing Sister Act 3 and I just want you to know I’m available for the job. Any job. I mean, you ain’t got to say nothing now, you know, I’ll send you an email or something. Just let me know if you need me.” But as it turns out, great minds think alike. “I already brought it up,” Goldberg responded, which sounds like she’s definitely in the mix, and thank god for that. Forget the pope, Keke Palmer is the most important addition to this franchise!
This post has been updated.
