Paddington in Peru post-credits scene: Who returns for surprise cameo?

As well as boasting returning stars including Hugh Bonneville, Julie Walters and, of course, Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington, the film introduces a couple of major new additions played by Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas – the former as a singing nun, the latter as a gold-hungry boat captain.

Plus, there are all number of small roles for some other familiar faces we saw in those first two films, including Jim Broadbent, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Jessica Hynes, all of whom reprise their roles as Paddington's neighbours towards the start of the film.

But there's one particular name who hadn't previously been confirmed for the cast but whom fans will no doubt be delighted to see when he pops up in the film's post-credits scene.

Wondering who that is? Read on for everything you need to know, with the warning that there are spoilers from this point onwards.

Paddington in Peru post-credits scene: Who returns for surprise cameo?

The previous film in the series, Paddington 2, earned pretty much unanimous praise for every decision it made – but arguably the most lauded of all was the genius call to cast Hugh Grant as the film's main antagonist, the vain, egotistical actor Phoenix Buchanan.

And so perhaps it's no real surprise that it is Grant who is brought back at the end of Paddington in Peru for a brief scene which sees the beloved bear visit him in prison, where he seems to be nicely rehabilitating.

In the scene, Paddington is far from the only bear paying him a visit. Indeed, he brings along a whole host of other bears from his ancestral tribe, who he met in his time in Peru and who have also each now been named after a famous London station (one of theme is even called Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich, echoing a joke comedian Sam Campbell once made on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown).

This gives Phoenix an idea... once he's done his time behind bars, perhaps he could put on a production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Now there's an idea for Paddington 4...

Interestingly, Antonio Banderas recently revealed that there had been originally been plans for a musical end credits scene, recalling the classic climax to Paddington 2 that saw Grant singing the Stephen Sondheim number Rain on the Roof with a chorus of his fellow inmates.

"There was a moment, at some point, they said for the end credits, that they wanted to do a musical number with all the characters [that he plays in the film]," Banderas told Digital Spy.

"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."

Paddington in Peru is now showing in UK cinemas.

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