Disney Channel Green Lights ‘Descendants 2’
In a move that won’t surprise anyone, Gary Marsh, the president and chief creative officer for Disney Channels Worldwide, announced today that the network has given the green light to produce a new sequel to Descendants, an original Disney Channel movie whose popularity rivals the High School Musical franchise reports ComingSoon.net. You may not be familiar with who the Descendants are, but your kids know.
Released in 2015, Descendants told the story about the teen children of Disney’s greatest villains exiled to live on the remote Isle of the Lost. Over in the kingdom of Auradon, Ben, the son of Beauty and the Beast, is about to take his place in leadership and offers an olive branch to the wicked teens to attend the kingdom’s prep school, which is lead by the Fairy Godmother. While not excited to attend the new school, the Descendants’ parents (Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, Jafar, and the Evil Queen) push their offspring on their way in hopes of taking over the land of Auradon. However, in the end, good triumphed over evil.
“Just when you thought ‘Happily Ever After’ had come to the land of Auradon, ‘Descendants 2’ turns the page to reveal a whole new level of mystery and surprise,” Marsh said in today’s press release.
'Descendants 2' premiering in 2017; China Anne McClain cast as Ursula 2.0 https://t.co/sfL9Ae2GF4 pic.twitter.com/1cv89iqZSF
— IMDb (@IMDb) June 10, 2016
The musical comedy was a hit with Disney Channel viewers, making Descendants the No. 1 cable television movie of 2015 as well as the fifth highest-rated made-for-TV movie on U.S. cable TV of all time. Outside of the U.S., the film is the No. 1 Disney Channel Original Movie ever in France, Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain.
Kenny Ortega, the Emmy Award-winning director of the first film and the High School Musical movies, will take the lead once again for Descendants 2 as director, executive producer, and choreographer. Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon, who won a 2016 Writers Guild Award for the first Descendants, have also penned the second story.
All of the teen stars from the first film has signed on, including Dove Cameron (Mal), Cameron Boyce (Carlos), Booboo Stewart (Jay), Sofia Carson (Evie), and Mitchell Hope (King Ben). New to the movie cast will be China Anne McClain as Uma, the daughter of Ursula (the sea witch from The Little Mermaid), and two more actors taking on the roles of the children of Captain Hook (Peter Pan) and Gaston (Beauty and the Beast).
For adults watching the original Descendants, the real fun was seeing actual villains played by Kristin Chenoweth (Maleficent), Kathy Najimy (The Evil Queen), Maz Jobrani (Jafar), Wendy Raquel Robinson (Cruella De Vil), and the heroes played by Melanie Paxson (The Fairy Godmother), Dan Payne (The Beast), and Keegan Connor Tracy (Belle). No official word was given in today’s announcement if any of them would be reprising their roles, but it would be a shame not to.
Other related reports from Inquisitr:
Four Of Disney’s Movies Dominate At The Box Office
Summer Movies: ‘Entertainment Weekly’ Editors Reveal What They Are Excited To See
Shortly after the debut of the live-action Descendants, a short animated film based on the movie, Wicked World, was created for Disney Channel as well, with all of the character voiced by the actors in the film. The four also appeared on the Disney Christmas Day special on ABC as well last December.
Descendants 2 is expected to begin filming this summer in preparation for a 2017 premiere. This big news follows the announcement of Disney Channel auditioning new cast members for High School Musical 4 last month and that production has begun on a new animated TV series based on the movie Tangled (Tangled: Before Ever After), which will also begin airing in 2017.
[Image via Disney Channel]
