With the casting of Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell in upcoming live-action Disney remake Peter Pan & Wendy, some of the reactions were once again pretty revolting, if not completely expected (sad as that may be). With Shahidi taking on the role of a character previously presented as white, a vocal minority are not happy, but the actress believes that she has also seen the beautiful responses she has received since her casting.
Shahidi’s fellow Grown-ish co-star Halle Bailey recently went through the exact same thing when she was cast as Ariel in The Little Mermaid, with many saying that Ariel couldn’t be Black, despite being a completely mythical creature – go figure. The same is happening once again with Shahidi taking on the role of Pan’s mischievous and often jealous fairy companion.
Having already seen her friend go through it, Shahidi knew what to expect, but has chosen to focus on all the good her playing Tinkerbell will do. She says that though there has been a backlash to her casting, overall the response has been positive, telling The Hollywood Reporter that “what’s been beautiful is seeing the response to both of our characters and seeing how many people feel included in this fairy tale, while also maintaining the magic that we love in the first place.”
She fully supports Bailey playing the iconic mermaid songstress as well, saying she is “so excited to watch Halle onscreen – if there’s anybody that is a princess just in real life, in the world, it’s Halle,” and that her casting “made so much sense.”
Creating live-action movies of animations done almost 50 years ago is all well and good, but the landscape is no longer the same. The times have changed, and audiences of all different races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and religious backgrounds want to feel represented onscreen.
Of course, the established group now feel “attacked” due to this diversification on our screens, and that the stories that are being told will somehow change as a result, but that’s not the case as the actress stated.
“I think oftentimes people think of diversity and inclusion as threatening or jeopardizing the quality of the story, instead of seeing how beautifully they can be interwoven together to create something that impacts even more people, that lets even more people into stories that we love.”
Alongside Shahidi the film will also star Ever Gabo Anderson (Wendy), Alexander Molony (Peter Pan), Jude Law (Captain Hook), Jim Gaffigan (Smee), and Alan Tudyk (Mr. Darling).
Peter Pan & Wendy will premier on Disney Plus on April 28.