Three movies, lots of secrets! The Princess Switch became a fan-favorite Netflix holiday flick immediately upon its November 2018 premiere. Since then, it has spawned two successful sequels — The Princess Switch: Switched Again and The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star.

Vanessa Hudgens starred as various characters in all three movies. The third and most recent installment, which premiered in November 2021, had the High School Musical alum playing Stacy De Novo, Duchess Margaret of Montenaro and Lady Fiona.

“There will be still three of me, which is more than enough in my opinion,” the actress joked to POPSUGAR in November 2020 about the third film. “We’ve been working on the script, continuing to elevate the franchise because it’s always scary doing sequels. But it’s going to be fun. There’s going to be great ‘fits. I’m really excited.”

While the first and second movie’s followed the story of Stacy and Margaret switching places, the third time around, they recruited Fiona to assist after a priceless relic — the Star of Peace — is stolen. The director of all three movies, Mike Rohl, revealed to J-14 exclusively that the third flick was his favorite to film.

“You could say the tripling and twinning was the most challenging part of the movie to shoot, and you may be right,” he shared ahead of the movie’s premiere. “Keeping the characters and story straight while balancing the cold hard facts of production and schedule does have its traps. However, I enjoyed the advantage of having shot the previous two movies. I could lean on that experience and the lessons learned with confidence. While still a considerable challenge, the actors and crew came through with flying colors making the hard work on PS3 incredibly fun.”

He added: “The biggest challenge artistically was to make the heist portion of the movie fun and exciting, but still remain faithful to the romantic ‘red thread’ that ran through the movie.”

As fans know, Netflix’s holiday movie universe has taken on a life of its own with Easter eggs in The Princess Switch movies that connect to The Knight Before Christmas (also starring Vanessa) and The Christmas Prince franchise. Mike, for his part, teased that “maybe” there’s even a hint that connects the films in The Princess Switch 3.

“Keep your eyes peeled for a bit of treat,” he told J-14. “We think the surprise is quite Aldovian.” 

These aren’t the only behind-the-scenes secrets that Mike revealed during our chat! Scroll through our gallery to uncover other little-known facts about Netflix’s The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star

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