What We Know About Disney’s Live-Action ‘Little Mermaid’ Remake — Cast, Release Date, More
After months of speculation, Disney has finally confirmed the cast of the upcoming live-action Little Mermaid remake, and boy, is
Lillie Gissen
After months of speculation, Disney has finally confirmed the cast of the upcoming live-action Little Mermaid remake, and boy, is it epic!
After the network confirmed that they were making the animated classic into a live-action movie, many fans were left wondering — who is going to play the mermaid and her handsome prince?! What about her bestie, Flounder? The iconic Sebastian? And of course, who is going to portray the scary and evil Ursula?! Well guys, we finally have our answers, and just wait until you find out who Disney has chosen for the roles.
Halle Bailey Has Been Cast As Ariel
In July 2019, news hit the web that Halle Bailey had been cast as the red-haired princess that we all know and love.
“After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” director Rob Marshall said in a statement at the time.
Fans may recognize the actress from her previous roles in Grown-ish, Let It Shine and Last Holiday. Plus, she is also known for her music! She formed a musical duo alongside her sister, Chloe Bailey, called Chloe x Halle, and together, they have released so many bops.
Bailey opened up about landing the role to Entertainment Tonight, and said she was “very excited and happy” about it. She gushed, “It means so much to me. I feel very honored and really grateful for the opportunity. Ariel was one of my favorite princesses growing up so it’s a dream come true.”
Jonah Hauer-King Has Been Cast As Prince Eric
As fans know, there was a lot of speculation over who was going to play Prince Eric, with Cameron Cuffe, Graham Phillips, Gavin Leatherwood, Christian Navarro, Noah Centineo and Asher Angel all reportedly in talks. Get this — Harry Styles was even offered the role, but he turned it down to focus on his music. In the end, Jonah Hauer-King was cast as the Prince, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
The British actor has starred in numerous movies and TV shows before this one, including Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer, The Last Photograph, Howards End, Little Women, Postcards from London, Old Boys, Ashes in the Snow, A Dog’s Way Home, The Song of Names, World on Fire and more. He also likes to sing, and uploads videos of himself performing songs to his YouTube account.
Melissa McCarthy, Awkwafina And Daveed Diggs Also Landed Roles In The Movie
The star-studded cast of The Little Mermaid also includes Melissa McCarthy (who previously acted in Bridesmaids, The Heat and more) as Ursula, Awkwafina (she is known for her roles in Ocean’s Eight, Crazy Rich Asians and others) as Scuttle, Daveed Diggs (he played Thomas Jefferson and Marquis de Lafayette in the Broadway play Hamilton) as Sebastian, Javier Bardem (fans may recognize him from No Country for Old Men or Skyfall) as King Triton and Jacob Tremblay (who has previously acted in Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Power Rangers and more, and he even portrayed a young Justin Bieber in his “Lonely” music video) as Flounder.
McCarthy told People Magazine about the role, “I have such an affection for Ursula. I know she’s the villain, but I’ve just always kind of been like, ‘Oh my god.’ I mean, she’s kind of delicious to play. I’m just kind of doing it as if I could be like the vaudevillian night club act that lives in my heart. It’s just so fun, you can’t go too far with her and I’m excited to see it.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda Is Working On The Soundtrack
According to Disney’s Twitter account, the new movie will feature both music from the original and new tracks by highly acclaimed composer Alan Menken (who wrote the original music) and Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also worked on Disney’s Moana). This is seriously a dream come true!
Meet the cast of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, @Awkwafina, @DaveedDiggs, @JacobTremblay, @MelissaMcCarthy & Javier Bardem. Directed by Rob Marshall, featuring music from the animated original & new music by @AlMenken & @Lin_Manuel Miranda. pic.twitter.com/lXp0p2mVrE
— Disney (@Disney) December 11, 2020
Don’t Expect ‘The Little Mermaid’ To Come Out Any Time Soon
Sorry, you guys, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, production of the live-action remake has been postponed, which means it’s probably not going to come out for a long time.
“I was in London at the beginning of the year about to start filming and of course this pandemic caused everyone to slow down. I actually welcomed it because I was really missing my sister who was here in LA, so I was happy to get back to her and I’m just so very excited for when we start back again,” Bailey previously explained, with McCarthy adding that filming is going to kick off again in January.
“Hopefully, if everything is … safe, we go back to shooting in January in London. Which is very exciting,” she said.
Digital Spy notes that an untitled Disney movie is scheduled to come out on November 19, 2021, but it’s unclear whether or not that’s The Little Mermaid or if it’s another new movie of theirs.
Disney Has Lots Of Other Remakes, Prequels And Reboots In The Works
It turns out, this isn’t the only thing Disney fans have to look forward to! Yep, they’re also working on eight new Star Wars TV shows and one new Star Wars movie, tons more Marvel movies, Indiana Jones 5, a prequel to Toy Story called Lightyear, a Moana and Princess and the Frog spinoff series, called Tiana and Moana a live-action remake of Pinocchio and so much more. We can’t wait!