The first images of Brandy and Paolo Montalban have been revealed from the upcoming Disney film Descendants: The Rise of Red. The duo first appeared as Cinderella and Prince Charming in the 1997 movie Cinderella. Brandy is the first Black woman to play the classic fairy tale character in a major presentation. In the 1997 version, the Fairy Godmother was played by the late Whitney Houston. In The Rise of Red, Melanie Paxson, who has appeared in all three Descendants movies, will reprise the role, so this isn’t a direct sequel to the 1997 film.
The Descendants movies already introduced one child of Prince Charming, Chad Charming, played by Jedidiah Goodacre. The new film will showcase a different child, Chloe, played by Malia Baker. (It was never clear whether or not Chad’s mother was Cinderella, but it would be safe to assume.)
Whereas Chad was kind of a bully character, Chloe is described as a “perfectionist.” She will butt heads with Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, portrayed by Kylie Cantrall.
Rita Ora will portray the Queen of Hearts who incites a coup against the rulers of Auradon. This forces Chloe and Red to use a magical pocket watch to travel back in time to prevent the Queen from heading down her villainous path. (This film originally had the working title of “The Pocketwatch.”)
It doesn’t appear that Goodacre will appear, nor will most of the original cast of the first three Descendants movies with the exceptions of Paxson and China Anne McClain, who reprises her role as Uma, the daughter of Ursula. This film introduces a sibling for her, Uliana, played by Dara Reneé.
This film also stars Ruby Rose Turner as Bridget/Young Queen of Hearts, Morgan Dudley as Ella/Young Cinderella, Joshua Colley as Hook, Jeremy Swift as Principal Merlin, and Leonardo Nam as Maddox Hatter.
Also not returning is director Kenny Ortega. Instead, Jennifer Phang (The Flight Attendant) will take over with a script written by Dan Frey and Russell Sommer (Magic: The Gathering).
There is no release date for Descendants: The Rise of Red, but you can see a little behind-the-scenes action in this clip below:
A royal occasion. ✨ King Charming (@PaoloMontalban) and Cinderella (@4everBrandy) have joined the upcoming Original movie, #DisneyDescendants: Rise of Red! pic.twitter.com/EsBxOqyr7q
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) March 22, 2023
