No slowing down — or retirement — for ‘Book Club’ stars Fonda, Bergen and Steenburgen

Re-teaming for “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” stars Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen and Candice Bergen put to rest rumors that they’ll ease up onscreen in the final quarter of their careers, asserting in a recent interview that they have no plans to retire.

Instead, two-time Oscar winner Fonda, 85, (“Klute,” “Coming Home”) said that acting continues to excite and challenge her creatively.

“The great thing about acting is that you’re invited to come and become another person,” the “Grace & Frankie” and “9 to 5” star told Entertainment Tonight. “You have to enter that other person with great empathy. It’s just such a challenge to find who is this person that I’m supposed to be and what was she like as a child. I find great joy with that kind of character exploration.”

Steenburgen, 70, whose hits include “Philadelphia,” “Parenthood” and “Back to the Future” and an Oscar for “Melvin & Howard,” referred to acting as the “ultimate puzzle.” They each also have several projects in production.

Following up the 2018 installment of their hit comedy “Book Club” with “Book Club: The Next Chapter,” the acclaimed actors, along with Diane Keaton, whisk each other off to Italy for Fonda’s character’s bachelorette party. The cinematic vets play a quartet of septuagenarians looking for la dolce vita in a buddy comedy that promises European-vacation set pieces, girls’ trip romps and Bergen’s punchy one-liners.

“We had a great time and we would have dinner after work. We’d walk off to little funky restaurants and get lost going back. It was just wonderful,” added “Murphy Brown” alum Bergen, 76. Bergen is no slouch in the awards arena either: The TV and film star has five Emmys to her name and an Oscar nomination for “Starting Over.”

The trio also addressed the writers’ strike currently upending production in Hollywood, with Fonda and Steenburgen voicing their support for the Writers Guild of America’s fight for fair wages in the streaming era.

The Focus Features sequel, directed again by Bill Holderman who co-wrote the script with Erin Simms, hits theaters Friday just in time for Mother’s Day.