Paddington in Peru saw a shake-up in the Brown family as Emily Mortimer took over the role of Mrs Brown from Sally Hawkins.
Hawkins decided to step away from the role after playing Mrs Brown in the two previous Paddington movies. Last week, Mortimer explained that it was "so flattering", but also understandably a "nerve-racking proposition".
It was her co-star Hugh Bonneville who suggested Mortimer for the role, and he couldn't be more enthusiastic about how she made it her own.
"Goodness me, talk about being lucky enough to work with both Sally Hawkins and now Emily as Mrs Brown," Bonneville told Digital Spy ahead of the release of the movie this Friday (November 8) in UK cinemas.
Related: Why isn't Sally Hawkins in Paddington 3?
"They're both genius actors and I think with Emily, there's this huge emotional heart towards the end of the film where I think the snuffles will happen as they did in Paddington 2, which is just Emily through and through.
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"She's a great warm character as a person and that shines through on screen. She has all the quirks and peculiarities you would want in a Mrs Brown."
Samuel Joslin and Madeleine Harris have played Jonathan and Judy Brown in all three movies to date. They agreed with Bonneville's praise of their new co-star and said it wasn't difficult to build up a similar rapport with her.
Related: Paddington 3 review
"Emily is such a lovely personality to be around and to work with and, you know, meeting her for the first time in rehearsals, we were just like, 'OK, this is perfect, she's Mary'," Joslin recalled.
"It was great working with her and how she enhances the performance of Mary on-screen is beautiful."
Harris added: "We were able to build that relationship quite easily off-screen with her, which then makes it much better on-screen. She fit into the Paddington family as much as [everybody else]."
Following its first reviews and positive early reactions, Paddington in Peru has debuted with a strong Rotten Tomatoes rating ahead of its release this week.
Paddington in Peru is released in UK cinemas on November 8 and in US cinemas on January 17, 2025.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
