Stellan Skarsgard has suggested Meryl Streep could return for a third instalment in the Mamma Mia! franchise.

The Hollywood actress played Donna Sheridan in the first film, 2008's Mamma Mia!, but she was killed off prior to the events of 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again - with Streep appearing in dream sequences and with Lily James playing the character in flashbacks.

Movie bosses are now said to be preparing to start work on a third film and castmember Skarsgard has hinted Meryl will make another comeback. Speaking backstage at the Golden Globe Awards, he told Us Weekly: "Everybody can be brought back in the movies. In the movies, it's fantastic! ...

"A lot of people are working on it to bring it [Mamma Mia!] back."

He then added: "She's not dead, you know! Meryl Streep is not dead!"

Streep, 74, previously admitted she would love to return for a third film but has no idea how her character could be brought back.

Speaking to Deadline.com at the Cannes Film Festival in France in May, she explained: "Of course I want to do it. I think folks love it.

"I don't know how they're going to do it. They have an idea. I haven't heard it yet. I'm going to hear about it pretty soon."

Amanda Seyfried - who played Donna's daughter, Sophie Sheridan, in both films - also previously spoke about the potential for a third film but hinted she's frustrated by the lack of progress so far.

She told ScreenRant: "We're not anywhere. I mean, there's so many of us in it, and if you don't have a story you can't cast in your head yet ...

"I don't know what the story is going to be, and I know that the music part ... it's a big part of it, so we have to make sure that everybody is aligned. I don't know. I wish I was producing because I would've made it already."

Seyfried stressed the third Mamma Mia! film could feature ABBA tracks that have been used in the previous movies.

The Dear John star said: "You don't need any new songs ... They do have songs, but I don't want to hear the King Kong Song in Mamma Mia! 3. I want to go with our hits. I want to go with Super Trouper and Chiquitita."