*Spoilers for Paddington in Peru below*
Everyone has been chomping at the bit for Paddington Bear’s return to our screens in Paddington in Peru since Paddington 2 proved to be such a beloved smash-hit seven years ago.
However, the threequel has tickled fans with another delightful surprise in store thanks to a massive 90s rom-com star making an appearance during the end credits.
Or should we say, a repeat one?
Yes, that’s right, star of films such as Four Weddings and A Funeral and Notting Hill, Hugh Grant, pops up in two end credits scenes in Paddington Peru after his triumphant performance in the previous film.
In fact, while Grant may have initially been known for his blinkingly British and charmingly awkward persona in the first phase of his career, it’s roles in the likes of the Paddington franchise – for which he was Bafta-nominated – as well as turns in A Very English Scandal, Wonka and horror movie Heretic, with which he is making a name for himself all over again. And a very different one at that.
Let’s not forget too that Paddington 2 is currently one of the most highly rated films ever on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, at 99%. It was dethroned from the full 100% by one measly negative review, but it still considered equally as good as movies such as Citizen Kane.
Who did Hugh Grant play in Paddington 2?
Hugh Grant played the villainous thespian Phoenix Buchanan in Paddington 2, a vain and arrogant actor with a fading career who enjoys taking on various different guises – as well as having a penchant for stealing books.
When Paddington is sent down for his crime, it sets the Browns off on a quest to exonerate him and prove Buchanan’s guilt, while their adopted bear struggles to keep his spirits high while locked up in prison – even if his marmalade sandwich recipe and iconic hard stare do improve things for his fellow prisoners.
Luckily Buchanan, who was using the book to help uncover clues around London for the location of some secret treasure, is eventually apprehended and jailed.
The last we see of him is the delighted actor performing a song and dance routine to Rain on the Roof in the prison with prison guards and his fellow inmates, enjoying his ‘captive audience’.
What happens in Paddington 3’s end credit scenes?
While the film follows a totally separate adventure in South America with Paddington, the Browns and new characters played by Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas, it does catch up with Buchanan right at the end.
After Paddington finds his original home from when he was a cub in El Dorado – an orange grove that’s home to juicy oranges and whole host of bears and not a secret stockpile of gold – he is overjoyed to be reunited with Aunt Lucy,
However, he decides that he still wants to go back to London with the Browns and his new life at Windsor Gardens. Therefore, a visit from all his new bear relatives is organised.
Near the start of the credits, following a montage, Paddington is shown taking his relatives to visit Buchanan in prison.
He introduces them all one by one to the actor over the telephone system while they visit him behind glass, revealing them all to have been given human names like his.
So they’re all station names, including Elephant and Castle (separately), and even Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich.
Never one to miss an opportunity to put on a show, the thieving thespian says he is shortly to be released and pitches a stage version of a Goldilocks musical to them, starring him.
Although they might be slightly puzzled by the suggestion, Buchanan is off in his own thoughts, musing: ‘I’m thinking Autumn, I’m thinking small theatres…’
These are, of course, all still West End venues though, like the Wyndham and the Duchess.
He even starts casting some of Paddington’s relatives as the central bears on sight – Daddy Bear, Mummy Bear and Baby Bear – adding to the youngest ones: ‘Come hither, don’t be frightened.’
A second brief scene follows right at the very end of the film’s credits.
Returning just to focus on Buchanan in his pink prison jumpsuit as the bears leave from their visit, he says to himself: ‘What fun, what fun. What a lovely bunch of… fur.’
Could this set up Grant for a return for the now-confirmed Paddington 4? Fans would certainly be welcoming of the idea – and Buchanan’s already seven years into his decade-long sentence and possibly anticipating an early release.
Paddington 4 is scheduled to be released in 2028, in order to coincide with the bear’s 70th anniversary, who was created by author Michael Bond.
Grant did actually attend the Paddington in Peru premiere in London last week and also has his appearance as Buchanan listed on his IMDb page, so the cameo may not have been a massive shock to some.
Curiously, Banderas revealed that there had initially been plans for him to film a musical number to play during the movie’s credits ‘with all the characters’, referring to all the various ancestors he also plays of his main character, boat captain Hunter Cabot.
‘At the end, there was no time or maybe no budget, I don’t know, or they thought better about it. I wouldn’t have minded to do it, I love musicals, I think it’s a beautiful art form,’ he told Digital Spy.
Producer Rosie Alison informed the publication that they had ‘ran out of time’ to do that particular credit scene as hoped, but tipped her hat to Grant’s reappearance by adding: ‘We did have a rather wonderful other credit sequence, which we thought we would leave space to enjoy.’
And in an interview clip that is likely to start doing the rounds again on TikTok as everyone enjoys Grant’s cameo in Paddington in Peru, the star almost revealed it himself earlier this year.
‘It’s funny you should say that…’ he began to CinemaBlend with a smile, when he was asked if he thought Paddington had forgiven him for his crimes against him in the sequel.
‘Actually, I can’t go down that alley,’ he then added after a brief hesitation, before breaking out into a big smile.
‘He’s a very forgiving bear. “Be kind and polite, and the world will be right,” as Aunt Lucy said. It’s a lesson for all of us,’ he teased of what we now know was to come.