The former child star also shared why she no longer minds being associated with the iconic children’s character

NEED TO KNOW

• Mara Wilson shared her thoughts on a potential Matilda sequel — and why landing on the right concept won’t be easy
• The writer and activist shared her thoughts during a recent panel discussion at Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee
• She also shared why she used to be “annoyed” when people called her Matilda

Mara Wilson revealed her thoughts on a potential Matilda sequel — and why she thinks landing on the right concept for a second installment will be so hard.

The actress voiced her thoughts during a recent panel at the Fanboy Expo Knoxville in Tennessee. During the conversation, Wilson, 38, said she had given the topic some serious consideration.

“People always ask me about doing a Matilda 2. And that could be possible,” she said.

“But one thing that people always say is, ‘Oh, maybe it could be Matilda’s daughter.’ And I have some issues with that, because I think Matilda’s powers come from her adversity,” Wilson explained.

“They come from the bad things that she went through, and the whole point is that she overcame these things. And she found power in educating herself and in making friends with these people who were really lovely … And so I don’t think Matilda would raise her daughter to be in a position where she developed those powers to protect herself,” she added.

“Also, and this is a tricky question, but who would Matilda marry?” the Mrs. Doubtfire actress continued. “Who’s good enough for Matilda? Matilda’s such an awesome character that I can’t imagine who she would marry and have kids with, you know?”

Wilson went on to say that she used to get irked by her lifelong association with such a well-known character.

“I used to be a little annoyed when people would call me Matilda because I was like, ‘No, I’m Mara. It felt almost a little bit like being called by your sister’s name — your much cooler, smarter sister’s name. And I was like, oh, no, I’m not as cool as she is,” she explained.

However, with time, the writer and activist said she grew to accept — and even embrace — it.

“You know, Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia, she said, ‘I feel like me and Princess Leia have kind of merged over the years.’ And I sort of feel like that too,” Wilson said.

“I feel like Matilda has been a character that I looked up to, and Matilda would do things that I do. She would talk about mental health. She would talk about books. She would be working. She would be writing, she would be loving books and doing stuff for public libraries and things like that. And I do all of those things. Those things are very important to me,” she continued.

“So Matilda has really taught me a lot of good lessons. And I think I’ve become a lot like her in my own way,” she added.

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Wilson said that making Matilda positively impacted her life in yet another way — specifically in that it fostered a lifelong friendship with Danny DeVito, who directed the classic.

“[The movie] was a big responsibility. I was the title character. It was difficult at times, I was also going through a hard time … Danny DeVito [took] very good care of my family. And he really helped me and my family when we were going through something terrible,” Wilson, who lost her mother to breast cancer several months before the movie’s release, recalled.  

“And yes, there were hard days. But there were also days where it felt like summer camp. And I am still friends with the people that I worked on it today,” Wilson added.

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