A new official, full-on look at Emily Blunt as the titular magical nanny in Mary Poppins Returns has arrived. And out of the many, many reimaginings, sequels, and reboots that Walt Disney Studios has done in connection to some of their more beloved titles over the years, the studio's planned long gap sequel to the Academy Award-winning 1964 classic film adaptation stands out as one of their riskiest ventures yet. Over fifty years since the first film hit theaters, though, Disney is indeed planning on bringing the world's greatest Nanny back to life on the big screen again, this time set several decades after the events of the first film, with an entirely new cast and crew attached to it.
While the first film was led by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins Returns instead stars Emily Blunt as the iconic character, alongside Hamilton creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Ben Winshaw, Angela Lansbury, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, and more. Following his work on Into the Woods in 2014, Rob Marshall is set to try his hand at bringing another beloved property to the big screen as the director of the film.
Today, EW officially released the cover for their upcoming issue, which features a brand new look at Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins. As opposed to the previous image of Blunt in costume as Mary Poppins - with Blunt facing away from the camera - the latest image offers fans a look at another one of Mary's costumes in the film, with Blunt looking forwards this time around. While the issue itself promises to feature even more images and revelations from Mary Poppins Returns too, you can check out the latest image of Blunt's Poppins for yourself down below:
Set to be a long-gap sequel instead of a reboot, Mary Poppins Returns picks up 25 years after the events of the 1964 film, this time in Depression-era London. And the issue itself features some interesting new character details from the film, including the news that Julie Walters will be playing the housemaid, Ellen, for Ben Whishaw's grown-up Michael Banks, who finds himself on the receiving end of Mary Poppins' help once again, following the death of his wife. Interestingly enough, Lin-Manuel Miranda's lamplighter Jack, is also apparently, a former apprentice of Dick Van Dyke's Bert from the first film.
In an attempt to reintroduce joy and wonder into the lives of both the Banks children and their grown-up guardians, Mary Poppins will take the kids on adventures that will include trips to "the top of Big Ben, the bottom of the ocean, into magical encounters with animated dancing penguins and upside-down cousins." But while all of that sounds like moments that could have fit well into the tone and story of the first film, Mary Poppins Returns' biggest challenge will be finding a way to recapture the magic that made the first Mary Poppins such an enduring success in the first place. It certainly has enough talented people attached to it, though, each capable of bringing their own magic to the film, and all that's left is to be seen is if Mary Poppins Returns can actually follow through on its own promise.
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Source: EW
