Disney’s Peter Pan Casts Black-ish Star Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell

Peter Pan & Wendy has tabbed Blackish star Yara Shahidi to play Tinkerbell in the upcoming film. Disney’s upcoming effort has also locked down Jude Law to play the iconic Captain Hook in the movie. Director David Lowery’s cast is starting to round out and the increased representation is being noticed by fans across the world. Deadline had the initial report of Shahidi’s casting. Lowery will also be helping write the script for Peter Pan and Wendy with Toby Halbrooks. Time will tell if the Internet has a similar reaction to the Tinkerbell news as they did for Halle Bailey playing Ariel in the upcoming version of The Little Mermaid. The social media firestorm there served as a kind of flashpoint in these discussions about diverse casting, but only time will tell.

It’s been a long road to this point for Peter Pan and Wendy. Lowery told EW about his excitement for the project back in 2018. Although some fans may be worried about fatigue over the same story being told repeatedly, the director sees the continued reboots and retellings as a signal that the Peter Pan story has stood the test of time.

“There’s a lot of expectations for a Peter Pan movie because people love it. And there’s also the fact there’s a lot of Peter Pan movies, and so I just want to make sure that if we make this one — I know Disney feels the same way — if we’re going to make this one, let’s make it right,” Lowery said two years ago. “It has to be personal to me. It also has to be the kind of movie that people who love the original Peter Pan movie are going to love. And that’s why I’m still agonizing over every little detail on it.”

He added, “You’re just like constantly, saying, ‘Okay, culturally what works now?’ Something as simple as taking the guns out of the pirates’ hands changes like a lot of beats from the classic Disney movie. I mean, Captain Hook has a lot of funny scenes with his pistol. The original Peter Pan movie’s obviously horribly racist, and so that will have to go out the window. Anyway, I can go on all day about it, but my point is is that when I finish it, it will be good.”

What do you think of her casting? Did they get it right? Let us know in the comments!

Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images for SHEIN