Disney’s said to be moving ahead with another remake of one of their classic animated movies. The next property to get the live-action treatment is apparently 1989’s The Little Mermaid and, if you believe the rumors, the House of Mouse might have already found its new Ariel: Spider-Man: Homecoming star Zendaya.
That Hashtag Show’s reporting that Disney has already offered the actress, also seen in The Greatest Showman, the lead role in the fairy tale film. This hasn’t come from any official sources, as reps for both Zendaya and the Mouse House have yet to respond to the rumors, but THS is usually pretty on point.
This seems like a canny bit of casting and certainly sounds plausible. After all, Zendaya got her big break with the studio – she starred in The Disney Channel’s Shake it Up – and since then she’s gone on to become one of the hottest upcoming actresses in Hollywood. As such, she’d be a shoe-in to play one of their princesses in live-action.
What’s more, there’s also the strange coincidence that this would mean Zendaya’s played two roles that were previously depicted as red-headed Caucasian women. In the Marvel universe, she plays Michelle, a version of Peter Parker’s flame-haired girlfriend Mary Jane from the comics. After the usual ruckus this sort of re-imagining brings about, fans settled down and responded to her performance in Homecoming quite positively. So, presumably, Disney lovers would do the same if she was cast as Ariel.
A live-action Little Mermaid has been on the cards since back in 2016. From what we understand, it’s set to be another Broadway-style musical movie, with new songs written by Disney stalwart Alan Menken and Mary Poppins Returns‘ Lin-Manuel Miranda. Late last year, Rob Marshall (also of Returns) was said to be the top choice to direct, based on a screenplay by Jane Goldman. If this report’s to be believed, Zendaya’s locked in as the lead, too, and as such, we’d expect some concrete news to start swimming to the surface pretty soon.
