In Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke espouses the virtues of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank in song as the grizzled Mr. Dawes Sr. Well, Disney confirmed in a press release today that he’ll appear in the sequel, which is currently in production, as that character’s offspring Mr. Dawes Jr. Van Dyke—who, of course, also played the cheery chimney sweep Bert in the film—teased this back in December, joking to Entertainment Tonight: “This time there’s no four hours in the makeup chair, I grew into the part!” Another person, Arthur Malet, actually portrayed Dawes Jr. in the original, so Van Dyke is assuming his role—unless there are two men named Dawes Jr. in the extended Poppins universe.
Emily Blunt stars in the follow-up as the titular nanny, while Lin-Manuel Miranda is an “optimistic street lamplighter” named Jack. The film catches up with the Banks family after Michael (now Ben Whishaw) “suffers a personal loss.” Emily Mortimer is on board as the grown-up version of Jane, and Meryl Streep is going to go zany as Mary’s “eccentric cousin, Topsy.” She’ll probably end up with a Best Supporting actress nomination. The movie is set for a Christmas release in 2018.
