Disney‘s live-action The Little Mermaid has added one fish to its vast sea. Noma Dumezweni has been cast in a brand-new role that has yet to be announced. This casting is fresh on the heels of her epic performance in HBO‘s series The Undoing alongside Hugh Grant. Deadline broke the exclusive news today.

She will be joining Halle Bailey (Ariel), Jonah Hauer-King (Prince Eric), Melissa McCarthy (Ursula), Daveed Diggs (Sebastian), Jacob Tremblay (Flounder), Awkwafina (Scuttle) and Javier Bardem (King Triton). So far, we know the live-action The Little Mermaid will roughly follow the story found in its animated counterpart. However, with Dumezweni’s casting, we can see that there might be some significant differences, including more characters and their story plots.

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Rob Marshall is directing from a script written by David Magee. The Little Mermaid will feature music from the animated classic and new songs from composer Alan Menken with lyrics from creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is also producing alongside Marshall, Marc Platt and John DeLuca.

Due to COVID-19 and filming schedules, The Little Mermaid‘s production and filming have been pushed back multiple times. We are hopeful that 2021 will be the year that things will finally get back underway. What new character do you think Dumezweni will be portraying? Will we get a chance to see Ariel’s mom? Let us know in the comments below and on social media!

 

 

Julia Roth
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