The live-action Mulan hit Disney+ last month and featured an incredible surprise cameo from Ming-Na Wen. Wen, who is most recently known for playing Melinda May on Agents of SHIELD, was the voice of the animated Mulan back in 1998. Wen appeared near the end of the new movie, presenting Yifei Liu’s Mulan to the Emperor. In a recent video shared by the Mulan Twitter account, Wen talks about her cameo and how it came together.
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“I am Ming-Na Wen aka the original Mulan,” Wen says in the video. “I was really beyond excited when I got the part of Mulan because I grew up with the stories of Fa Mulan. She is sort of like our Joan of Arc character. It’s such an honor to make this cameo. It’s a nice little surprise and easter egg for our loyal fans who grew up with the story or have been impacted by this story of this brave young girl who sacrifices everything really, including her own life.”
Wen added, “I’m Chinese, there is a great sense of pride in the fact that we have this incredible story about this historical but heroic young woman. It’s a little glimpse into the Chinese people.” You can watch the full video in the tweet below:
Watch Ming-Na Wen discuss her appearance in Disney’s #Mulan – Now on Digital. https://t.co/Ekd7bEHxXc pic.twitter.com/sAM8QA6Zhq
— Mulan (@DisneysMulan) October 9, 2020
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wen explained that after fans tweeted about how she needed to be part of the new Mulan, she reached out to her manager to check into the possibility and that the film’s producer, Jason Reed, loved the idea. However, things hit a snag. The plan initially was for Wen to play the mother-in-law during the matchmaker sequence, but it would have required her to go to New Zealand for a month, which wouldn’t have worked.
“The producers of Agents of SHIELD just threw up their hands: ‘We can’t lose you for a month!’” Wen explained. “I totally understood, and I’m always very Zen about this stuff. I said, ‘Look, if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. We all tried and it’s too bad.’”
How did you feel about Wen’s surprise Mulan cameo? Tell us in the comments!
Mulan is available to purchase through Disney+ Premiere Access and is now available On Demand.
