Halle Bailey has been cast to portray Ariel in the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures live-action adaptation of beloved animated classic, The Little Mermaid.

The film is directed by Rob Marshall and produced by Marshall, John DeLuca, Marc Platt and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film will feature beloved songs from the animated classic by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as new songs by Menken (music) and Miranda (lyrics).

“After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” says Marshall.

Halle Bailey will be taking on the mermaid princess role made iconic by Jodi Benson in beloved 1889 animated classic, celebrating thirty years this November.  Together with her sister, the actress-singer performs as R&B duo CHLOE X HALLE.  Both sisters are series regulars on Freeform sitcom Grown-ish.

There has recently been a lot of news as the film gets closer to the starts of its 2020 production.  There was quite the internet backlash with the news that Disney wanted Melissa McCarthy to star as sea witch Ursula.  Most recently, internet reports suggest that Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina would be playing Flounder and Scuttle.

Further announcements regarding The Little Mermaid are sure to be expected in the weeks to come.

The Little Mermaid will start on production in early 2020.