The Little Mermaid: Halle Bailey Has Perfect Reaction to Being Cast as Ariel

Disney has found its Ariel in R&B star Halle Bailey, which means its live-action The Little Mermaid adaptation is one step closer to reality. Rumors have been swirling for quite a while now around the role of the iconic Disney Princess, but Bailey has now officially landed the part. She took to social media to share her reaction to the big news, and fans are loving it. Bailey shared an image of Ariel with darker skin, adding the caption “dream come true… 🧜🏽‍♀️🌊”. Evidently, Bailey was the clear frontrunner for the part for some time, even though other names like Zendaya had made the rounds online.

Fans quickly supported Bailey’s reaction and overall casting in the role, and we’ve included some of the best reactions below.

“They really do I’ve never stanned so hard”

“So proud”

“me and my niece gone see it 100 times thats whats crazy”

“YES QUEEN CAN’T WAIT TO BE PART OF YOUR WORLD!!”

“YOU’LL BE PERFECT AS ARIEL!!!!!!!!!!💞💞💖❤️💕💖❤️💞💕💗💙”

“WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS!”

The image she shared was created by artist Dylan Bonner, who actually created the art for Brian Flynn as a gift to his girlfriend Manini. They both love Disney movies, and so Bonner recreated them as Disneyfied characters, depicting them in films like Tangled, Mulan, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. You can check out all of the images here and for more of Bonner’s work you can head to his blog and Tumblr.

As for Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Bailey joins a cast that includes Awkwafina (Skuttle) and Jacob Tremblay (Flounder), and Melissa McCarthy is also in talks to star as the villain Ursula. With Bailey now the film’s Ariel, we just have to cast a few more supporting cast members like Eric and King Triton, and we’ve got ourselves a full cast.

The Little Mermaid currently has no release date.