Descendants: The Rise of Red

Descendants: The Rise of Red (also known as Descendants 4) is a musical fantasy film directed by Jennifer Phang from a screenplay by Dan Frey and Russell Sommer. Produced by Disney Channel, the film will be the fourth in the Descendants franchise, being a spin-off of the previous three films. The film debuted on July 12, 2024 on Disney+ and August 9, 2024 on Disney Channel.
Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker star in the roles of Red (daughter of Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland) and Chloe Charming (daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming from Cinderella), respectively. China Anne McClain and Melanie Paxton reprise their roles of Uma and Fairy Godmother, respectively, from previous Descendants films. Cinderella and King Charming are played by Brandy and Paolo Montalban, who previously played versions of the characters in the 1997 television adaptation of Cinderella.
== Synopsis ==
Red, daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, daughter of Cinderella and King Charming, team up to travel in time with the White Rabbit's pocketwatch and prevent a catastrophic coup on Auradon.
== Cast ==
*Kylie Cantrall as Red, the daughter of Queen of Hearts
*Malia Baker as Chloe Charming, the daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming
*China Anne McClain as Uma, the daughter of Ursula
*Dara Reneé as Uliana, the sister of Ursula and aunt of Uma
*Rita Ora as the Queen of Hearts, Red's mother
**Ruby Rose Turner as Bridget, the young Queen of Hearts
*Brandy Norwood as Cinderella, Chloe's mother
**Morgan Dudley as Ella, the young Cinderella
*Paolo Montalban as King Charming, Chloe's father
**Tristan Padil as teen Prince Charming
*Melanie Paxson as Fairy Godmother
**Grace Narducci as Fay, teenage Fairy Godmother
*Levin Valayil as Aladdin
**Kabir Bery as teen Aladdin
*Shazia Pascal as Jasmine
**Aiza Azaar as teen Jasmine
*Jeremy Swift as Principal Merlin
*Leonardo Nam as Maddox, the son of the Mad Hatter and chief inventor for the Queen of Hearts
*Alex Boniello as Jack of Diamonds, captain of the Queen of Hearts' Red Army
*Sam Morelos as Zellie, the daughter of Rapunzel
*Peder Lindell as Morgie, son of Morgana le Fay
*Marissa Kruep as young Maleficent
*Joshua Colley as teen Hook
*Anthony Pyatt as teen Hades
*Julee Cerda as Evil Stepmother
== Production ==
On August 18, 2021, following the release of the animated special Descendants: The Royal Wedding, Lauren Kisilevsky, Disney Branded Television's Senior Vice President of Original Movies, responded to questions regarding the special's cliffhanger by saying that "[t]he tease is a tease", and was added due to the Descendants films ending with hints at additional stories, and also said that "Disney Channel will see where [they] get with the franchise".Descendants: Disney Channel SVP Addresses Royal Wedding Cliffhanger
On September 21, 2021, a fourth Descendants film was confirmed to be in development as part of an overall deal between Disney and former Disney Branded Television president Gary Marsh's production company. By May 2022, the film was greenlight by Disney+ as a spin-off under the working title of The Pocketwatch. Jennifer Phang was hired as director and co-executive producer, with Dan Frey and Russell Sommer writing the screenplay and Marsh executive-producing.
On March 21, 2023, the official title for the film was announced as Descendants: The Rise of Red.
===Filming===
Filming for Descendants: The Rise of Red began in Early January 2023 under its working title The Pocketwatch. Mark Hofeling return from the original trilogy as production designer. Phang said she wants the choreography during action sequences to still be able to tell an emotional story. For Wonderland's design, Phang used Alice in Wonderland (1951) as a reference while also drawing inspiration from her previous filmmaking experience. Filming took place in Atlanta beginning at the end of January 2023 with plans to run through mid-March.
===Casting===
The featured cast announced at the 2022 D23 Expo included China Anne McClain, who is returning to portray Uma, with Kylie Cantrall (as Red) and Dara Reneé (as Ulyana) joining the cast of the film. In November 2022, casting announcement revealed that Brandy Norwood was returning as Cinderella after playing the role in the 1997 film Cinderella and Melanie Paxson returned to the franchise as the Fairy Godmother. New cast members to the franchise were Rita Ora as the Queen of Hearts as well as Malia Baker, Ruby Rose Turner, Morgan Dudley, and Joshua Colley. After filming had begun, Jeremy Swift and Leonardo Nam were announced as cast additions in February 2023. In March 2023, was announced that Paolo Montalban was cast as King Charming, who like Norwood, played a version of the character in the 1997 film Cinderella.
===Visual effects===
According to Phang, visual effects will be used to "enhance" the locations featured in the film.
===Music===
Descendants: The Rise of Red is set to feature both 7 original songs and songs from animated Disney films.
== Release ==
Descendants: The Rise of Red is set to release on Disney+ on July 12, 2024, followed by the Disney Channel premiere on August 9, 2024.
== External links ==
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== References ==
Category:2024 films
Category:Disney+ original films
Category:Descendants (franchise)
Category:Disney Channel Original Movie films
Category:American fantasy films
Category:American musical fantasy films
Category:American sequel films
Category:Films about time travel
Category:Films based on fairy tales
Category:Film spin-offs