It's been 53 years since the original Mary Poppins descended onto screens via umbrella. Now in 2018 she'll be back to visit the grown-up Banks children in a Disney musical reboot which should put a skip in your step.
Disney released the first sneak peek at the movie during the 2018 Oscars, but it didn't offer a lot terms of plot, only showing Mary briefly near the end of the trailer. After floating down from the skies over London, she's greeted by a delighted Jane and Michael at their home on Cherry Tree Lane.
So what else is there to know about the return of the famous magical nanny? Here's everything you need to know about Mary Poppins Returns.
Mary Poppins Returns teaser: Let's go fly a kite!
As the footage began, we saw Jack the Lamplighter (Lin-Manuel Miranda) helping Michael's son fly a kite. They start pulling harder, and off in the distance Mary is floating down from the sky with her umbrella.
The brief teaser shown at D23 also had a Lamplighter dance number, and Dick Van Dyke, playing a bank chairman, dancing on a desk.
It ended with Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane (Emily Mortimer) reminiscing about their childhood. "Those things when we were younger, they didn't really happen?" Jane says.
"No," Michael replied. "Ridiculous," Jane says... while behind them, Mary is floating up the banister.
Mary Poppins Returns trailer: The penguins are back!
We got the first full-length trailer for the sequel on September 17, delivering a whole lot more of Mary, as well as teasers for the music we'll be hearing, the movie's fantasy sequences and even the return of Dick van Dyke.
And yes, the dancing animated penguins are back in business.
Mary Poppins Returns release date: a Christmas treat
The movie was set for a Christmas Day release in 2018, but Disney has moved it forward to December 19 in the US and December 21 in the UK.
Filming began in February – a few pictures have popped up from the set – which gives Disney plenty of time to complete.
Christmas seems likes like a great time for what promises to be a fun family musical – plus, right now it's not up against much else particularly.
Mary Poppins Returns cast: a couple of Emilys plus a Meryl
The long-awaited sequel has rounded up a pretty impressive cast. Stepping into the massive shoes of the magical nanny herself is Emily Blunt. And fortunately, original Mary Poppins Julie Andrews is totally on board with that.
We know she can sing after Into the Woods. Whether she'll be called on to cavort with a chimney sweep remains to be seen, but we're confident she'll manage.
"I was filled with a mixture of two emotions – I was obviously very excited, but I was also frozen with fear because, well, Mary herself is so iconic, and Julie Andrews is so iconic, too," Blunt said of taking the role, later admitting that she found Mary "creepy".
Fortunately, Blunt still believes that the return of Mary couldn't be better timed. "The world is fragile right now, and people need a film like this," she explained.
"It's incredibly hopeful. I didn't watch the original while shooting, but it's seared into my memory — this idea of her as this incredibly unsentimental character who swept into their lives and made it all right. I found a great comfort in that as a child."
The grown-up Jane and Michael Banks are played by Emily Mortimer and Ben Whishaw.
Meryl Streep will be appearing as Mary's cousin Topsy, while Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda will play a lamplighter called Jack, who will probably be a friend of Poppins modelled on Dick Van Dyke's Chimney sweep Burt.
Van Dyke himself will be back too. He's listed as playing Mr Dawes Jr – presumably the son of one of the characters he played in the original. Not the jaunty chimney sweep, but the director of the bank where Mr Banks works.
Musical royalty Angela Lansbury has joined the cast, and throw in Julie Walters, plus Colin Firth as William Weatherall Wilkins (aka the boss of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank) and you've got a pretty stellar gang together.
Mary Poppins Returns plot: she's baaaaaack
The original Mary Poppins was set in 1910. The sequel takes the action forward to 1935 where Michael and Jane Banks, the children she once looked after and treated to kites and spoonsful of sugar, are now adults with kids of their own. Mary returns after Michael suffers a personal loss which has left him and his family sad – they seriously an injection of joy, and Poppins is the person to help bring that back.
It's based on a screenplay written by David McGee who penned the script for Life of Pi. We know it's going to include lots of musical numbers, and some knees-up knees-up action a la 'Step In Time'.
Meanwhile, poor Dick Van Dyke is still apologising for his accent. It's been half a century – give the guy a break.
Mary Poppins Returns director: He's the musical man
In the director's chair is Rob Marshall, who has plenty of experience with musicals. He made Chicago which earned him a best director Oscar nod (not bad at all given this was his debut feature), as well as Nine, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Nicole Kidman.
He's also the man behind Into the Woods, which he made for Disney and stars Poppins 2.0 Emily Blunt.