Kevin Costner Wanted A British Royal For The Bodyguard Sequel

Mick Jackson's "The Bodyguard" is one of the lousiest blockbusters ever made. It's no secret why the film, which grossed a stunning $411 million globally ($924 million in 2024 dollars) on a $25 million budget, caught on with audiences: Kevin Costner playing the Steve McQueen-esque guardian of Whitney Houston, who belts out her biggest hit ever at the end of the movie ("I Will Always Love You"), was just a crazy zeitgeisty combination of superstars in 1992. Even though the B+ Cinemascore indicates it didn't hit the sweetest of spots with moviegoers, the hook and that song proved irresistible.

So what if the R-rated action-romance played like the chastest Adrian Lyne movie ever made, or the 17-year-old screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan was a by-the-numbers bore? Did it matter that Costner and Houston had absolutely zero chemistry, or that critics generally abhorred the film? Clearly, no.

Possibly the biggest mystery surrounding the success of "The Bodyguard" is that the billion-dollar-grossing movie failed to generate a sequel. How could Warner Bros. leave all that money on the table? Though a second pairing of Costner and Houston's characters would've been a stretch narratively, that never stopped anyone in Hollywood when a seemingly guaranteed hit was in the offing. To their credit, WB and Costner understood this, and sought out another big-name co-star for the actor to protect. Had they made it happen, the movie would've either outperformed "The Bodyguard" or been one of the biggest turkeys of all time toplined by the world's most famous royal.

In a 2019 interview with "Couch Surfing," Costner revealed that the studio was keen on casting Diana Spencer, the former Princess of Wales, as his charge and love interest. Perhaps shockingly, "The Bodyguard" sequel got fairly far down the road. Because according to Costner, Diana said yes.

As the actor told "Couch Surfing:"

"I just remember her being incredibly sweet on the phone when she asked the questions. She goes, 'Are we going to have, like, a kissing scene?' But she said it in a very respectful — she was a little nervous because I think her life was very governed."

Though Diana had some performance experience, it was mostly as a classically trained pianist or in ballet. Being the star of a major motion picture would've been a huge ask of her. True, she was used to being on camera, but her relatively positive public image — burnished by her admirable AIDS activism — would've been at stake. What if she was no good?

"The Bodyguard" sequel was still in development at WB when Diana was killed in a car crash on August 31, 1997. In light of this, it feels awfully trivial to call this an intriguing Hollywood what if, but one thing is for sure: it would've been the movie event of whatever year it got released. (If you'd like to get a better sense of Diana the person, you could do a lot worse than Pablo Larrain's "Spencer.")