Original Princess Ariel Welcomes Halle Bailey with Open Arms

Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid has been making waves for a while now. While on the one hand, fans have been quite excited about the upcoming feature and have been literally “sobbing” at what they saw, on the other, many fans of the animated movie were distinctly unhappy that Black singer and actress Halle Bailey was cast as Princess Ariel, seeing as how her casting decision deviated from the original representation of the fictional character and many felt Disney was “pandering to woke audiences.” (There was a similar criticism going around about casting Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell in the recently released Peter Pan and Wendy.)

Halle Bailey has spoken out many times about her role—both how much the representation means to her and how much it means to other fans as well. In fact, when Bailey was at the Parks, a young fan shared the most memorable moment with the actress—one that tugged at our heartstrings. All this said, however, some may still find the casting decision to be unsavory to their taste.

Those same critics may not be happy to note that former Princess Ariel, Jodi Benson, is more than happy with the choice to cast Bailey and even welcomed her with open arms. The official Disney Music TokTok account shared the video of the former and current Princess Ariel meeting:

@disneymusic

POV: You’re at #thelittlemermaid premiere and this happens 🥹✨ @halle @Jodi Benson #disney #premiere #littlemermaid #hallebailey #jodibenson

♬ Part of Your World – From “The Little Mermaid” – Halle

Fans were more than thrilled at the meet, and all shared their joy in the comments. One said, “The original Ariel meets the new Ariel.🥰”

Another fan chimed in, “I love the support from Jodi Benson, she’s such a sweetheart.”

More fans agreed with this sentiment, “she has jodi’s blessing so people need to stop attacking halle.”

It’s certainly can be argued that now that the original Princess Ariel Jodi Benson has given Halle Bailey her blessing it’s time to leave behind our concerns and frustrations and give the new movie a real chance to wow us. If the trailer and the concept art are anything to go by, it’ll be one for the books.

More on “The Little Mermaid”

The upcoming “Little Mermaid” adaptation also stars Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, and Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina. Jacob Tremblay voices Flounder, Daveed Diggs—Sebastian, and Awkwafina voices Scuttle. It’s directed by Rob Marshall, with music from Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Alan Menken.