Sister Act 3 will 'hopefully' begin production in 2022

'Sister Act 3' will "hopefully" begin production in 2022.

The comedy franchise - which stars Whoopi Goldberg as singer Deloris Van Cartier who was forced to go undercover as a nun after witnessing a crime - will return for a third instalment with director Tim Federle noting that Whoopi is "really excited" to return to her iconic role and that the project is a "big priority" for Disney.

He said: "I hope we are starting this year, I think the 'Sister Act' franchise is a big priority to the studio scripts coming along and I think Whoopi is really excited."

The 'Better Nate than Ever' director went on to explain that development of the movie - which is set to have a script penned by Regina Y. Hicks and Karin Gist - is dependent on "scheduling" matters.

He told Collider: "Now it's just about schedules and chips falling where they may. [Scheduling] is literally everything. It's literally like the availability of a convent and the availability of a an EGOT!"

Tim - who recently directed the Disney+ movie 'Better Nate Than Ever', which sees a 13-year-old boy fantasise about a career in Broadway musicals and stars Lisa Kudrow as his actress aunt - went on to explain that in the future he would "love" to continue making 'Nate' movies and noted that he is constantly inspired by the work of Rob Marshall, who directed Oscar-winning movie musical 'Chicago.'

He said: "I would love to expand the 'Nate' cinematic universe. I will say you know Rob Marshall's kind of my hero when I was 12 years old Rob Marshall directed me in a production of 'Oliver!' in my hometown of Pittsburgh. And I have been quietly following in his footsteps and in his shadow for almost 30 years. And so what he's been able to do creating these beautiful visual musical event films is kind of my dream to."