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Ultimate Power Ranking of The 3 'Mammia Mia!' Dads!
Written by Bradley Klaus. Published: July 17 2025
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(Photo: Universal
Pictures)
"Of course it takes three great men to create such a woman."
In the now-iconic Mamma Mia! films, soon-to-be-bride Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) invites her three potential fathers (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård) to her upcoming wedding, in search of her real dad. This was hidden from her by her mother Donna (Meryl Streep), as she doesn’t know the answer either.
The question we want to find the answer to is about Sophie’s
father. “Doesn’t that go against the message of both films?” you
may be asking. Our question isn’t who Sophie’s dad is but who is
the best father to Sophie? To get to the bottom of this, we have
created a set of criteria to evaluate Sam, Bill, and Harry to
figure out who is the best of Sophie’s three dads. We call it the
D.A.D.S. system. It stands for “Dynamic” (judging their personality
and their relationship with her), “Accessibility” (how much time
they spend with her, though it’s hard to judge the real world time
they would’ve spent together so we are calculating how much screen
time each dad and Sophie share in both movies), “Dependability”
(are they there for Sophie when she needs it?), and “Singing"
(not necessary for being a dad, but the Mamma
Mia! films are musicala so we are also judging their
singing ability). We will be assigning a letter grade to each
category and totaling up their D.A.D.S. score to finally determine
who is the ultimate dad!
DYNAMIC
Sam:
Sam is the romantic out of the three dads. He’s the one who
broke Donna’s heart, ultimately marrying her when Sophie canceled
her wedding. He also is her actual stepfather, as he married Donna
and lived on Kalokairi for 5+ years, but, as we’ve mentioned,
off-screen development doesn’t count. He has had experience raising
children from his last marriage, and though Sophie is a grown woman
by the time they meet, it helps him build a good relationship with
her. He wants to make up for lost time, not just with Sophie but
with Donna too.
SCORE: A for using his past experience to help Sophie
in the present.
Harry:
Harry is the quirky, anxious, tries-to-be-spontaneous dad. He
has a lot of funny moments, being the one to spoil the baby
surprise at the end of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and
doing the Titanic pose with Harry being Rose. He is
also very sweet, singing and playing guitar with Sophie and stating
he would “spoil her rotten” if he had a daughter, which he then
later finds out he does. All he wants is to be a good father and
will do anything to not let Sophie down.
SCORE: B+ for his enthusiasm about being a “new”
father.
Bill:
Bill is the wild, adventurous one of the three, the most
famous stud of Europe. He goes on sailing contests, gets into
trouble, and lives mostly out of his boat. He just wants to have
fun and has lived a life most would be jealous of. Like the others,
Bill wants the best for Sophie and tries to be there for her as
much as he can.
SCORE: B- for being a fun dad.
ACCESSIBILITY
Sam:
Sam has a leg up on the other dads in “accessibility” because
he has a couple more scenes in Mamma Mia! Here We Go
Again. We’ll focus on the sequel, as Sam spends a lot of his
time with Sophie, with the other two dads, or with Donna in the
first film. Sam's father-daughter time is spent encouraging and
reassuring Sophie about the grand opening, as well as grieving
together and comforting her about Donna’s death. In Mamma
Mia!, they share around 15 minutes and 30 seconds of screen
time, and in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, they have 16
minutes and 54 seconds. This totals up to 32 minutes and 24 seconds
across both films.
SCORE: A+ for being there for Sophie when she needed
a parental figure the most.
Harry:
Harry and Sophie spend most of their time together with other
people, but they get small moments to themselves that count for a
lot. Harry plays the guitar he bought Donna, and he and Sophie sing
together. In the sequel, though he’s not there in the beginning, he
abandons his business meeting in order to go to the grand reopening
and be there for Sophie. He prioritizes his family time over work,
which surely means a lot to Sophie. In Mamma Mia!, Harry
and Sophie share 14 minutes and 26 seconds together, while in the
sequel they share 12 minutes and 36 seconds together for a total of
27 minutes and 2 seconds.
SCORE: A- for prioritizing his family.
Bill:
Bill and Sophie have a similar relationship as her and Harry.
They go sailing on Bill’s boat, where he teaches her the basics of
sailing. He shares stories of his past with Donna and they have
lunch. In the sequel, similar to Harry, he shows up near the end to
surprise Sophie instead of accepting an award for the Best Swede.
He also saves the grand opening by knowing a sailor, who he saved
with Donna 25 years ago, and is able to bring himself, Harry, and
Sky back to Kalokairi. Bill and Sophie share around 15 minutes and
15 seconds in the first film and 12 minutes and 36 seconds in the
sequel, which adds up to 27 minutes and 51 seconds
total.
SCORE: A- for saving the day.
DEPENDABILITY
Sam:
Sam has already had experience in being a dad, having two
grown sons. So, he uses this to help Sophie and give her the
support she needs. After their boat day and seeing how good of an
artist Sophie is, Sam encourages her to chase a career in it. He
sees how bright she is and wants the best for her. When Sophie is
working on the hotel, Sam is nothing but supportive and actively
helps with the opening. He is Sophie’s rock, someone she can rely
on while rebuilding the hotel in Donna’s honor.
SCORE: A.
Harry:
Harry says he always wanted a daughter, and when he finds out
Sophie may be his, he is enthusiastic. He offers to help Donna pay
for the wedding. He wants to be there for her right away, and as
previously stated, he is willing to make career sacrifices in order
to support her. Harry is all in on being a dad, especially since
it’s the only real family he has.
SCORE: A.
Bill:
Bill is the first to find out the truth and is initially
shocked by the revelation that Sophie may be his daughter. He tries
to wrap his head around the fact his great-aunt left Donna the
money, which she only ever said was "left for family". It shakes
his whole world and his lone wolf lifestyle, but he accepts her
with open arms and is accepting of her immediately. In the sequel,
as previously stated, he abandons accepting an award in order to be
there for Sophie on the day the hotel opens. He remembers that
family is all that matters.
SCORE: A.
SINGING
Sam:
This is not Sam’s strongest category. Pierce Brosnan just
cannot sing, this is a fact. He’s a great leading man, but he belts
everything, looking like he’s struggling to get the words out. In
the sequel, he does better, mainly because he doesn’t have full
solo songs and he’s pushed into the background vocals with everyone
else. They gave him, someone with little to no musical experience,
the hardest song to sing for the male lead. He acknowledges this as
a weakness, and we applaud his attempt.
SCORE: C+, but an A for effort.
Harry:
Harry was a singer when he was younger, so it’s fitting his
voice is good. Colin Firth is able to inject a wonderful and quirky
performance into "Our Last Summer" from the first film. It’s his
only solo song -- well, not technically since he shares it with Sam
and Bill, but it’s a great scene.
SCORE: B for his only “solo” song.
Bill:
Bill doesn’t sing much throughout both films. He only has small parts in “Our Last Summer” and “Take a Chance On Me”, and has background vocals in the “Waterloo” credits and “Dancing Queen” in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Stellan Skarsgård, one of our greatest living actors, does a lot of talk-singing, which is fine. It would work fine in karaoke at a bar but would not qualify him for "America’s Got Talent". Though, the Mamma Mia! films (especially the first) really are just an excuse for some of the great actors of our time to get drunk and sing ABBA songs.
SCORE: C+ for his drunk karaoke singing.
So, now that we know their grade for each category of D.A.D.S., let’s average out their grades and see who is the best father to Sophie.
Bill Anderson averaged out to a B+ -- not bad, a rough start with a not so great ending.
Harry Bright ended with an A- -- pretty average score across the board for a decent D.A.D.S. grade.
Finally, our winner is Sam Carmichael with an average grade of an A -- great marks across the board with one stumble at the end.
However, all three of them, Bill, Harry and Sam are all great fathers and anyone would be lucky enough to have them as their three dads!