Halle Bailey Cast as Ariel in 'Little Mermaid'

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19-year-old R&B star Halle Bailey from the sister duo Chloe X Halle has been confirmed to play the role of Princess Ariel in Disney‘s upcoming live-action reboot of The Little Mermaid. Bailey took to Twitter to announce the casting, saying that it’s a “dream come true.”

Along with the tweet was a reproduced shot of an animated Ariel but with black hair and darker skin, celebrating Disney’s choice for diversity. The actress has previously starred in Last Holiday and Let It Shine and currently plays the character of Sky in the ongoing Grown-ish series. The actress and singer came to stardom when she and her older sister Chloe uploaded a cover of Beyoncé’s Pretty Hurts online, which caught the attention of the original singer herself, leading to a record deal with Beyoncé’s very own label Parkwood Entertainment.

Bailey will likely be starring alongside Melissa McCarthy, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay, who are all currently in talks to join the cast. The live-action The Little Mermaid remake will come after a series of other live-action reboots of Disney’s classic animated films, which will be co-produced by Marc Platt, Marshall, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and John DeLuca. Alan Menken, who composed the songs and music for the original animated The Little Mermaid film, will return to work on the live-action remake as well, with new music and lyrics.

There’s currently no information from Disney about a potential release date, so stay tuned for more updates to come.

Elsewhere in entertainment, there’s a Netflix series based on The Grudge currently in the works.