In addition to serving as the film’s writer and director, Nia Vardalos will once again portray the endearingly dorky Fotoula “Toula” Portokalos-Miller in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3,” with John Corbett reprising his role as her loving husband Ian. Other confirmed “Big Fat Greek Wedding” alums returning for the threequel include Elena Kampouris (Paris), Louis Mandylor (Nick), Maria Vacratsis (Freida), Andrea Martin (Theia), Gia Carides (Nikki), and Joey Fatone (Angelo), with Elias Kavacas (“Pretty Little Liars Original Sin”) and relative newcomer Melina Kotselou joining them. Behind the camera, longtime franchise producers Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Gary Goetzman are also back for more zaniness with the Portokaloses and their relatives.
There is, of course, a dispiriting cloud hanging over the movie’s head in the form of the late Michael Constantine, who played Toula’s eccentric, Windex-spraying father Costas, aka Gus, prior to his death. “He had told me he wouldn’t be able to join us for the third film and his wish was that we go on,” Vardalos explained on Instagram a month after Constantine’s passing in August 2021. “I wrote the screenplay to reflect Michael’s decision and will always treasure his last messages to me, hoping we were filming soon.” Say what you will about the “Big Fat Greek Wedding” films and their sitcom-styled formulaic silliness, but they’re also genuinely earnest in their celebration of love and family — making the third chapter a perfect way for Vardalos to honor the memory of her beloved onscreen patriarch.