Grown-ish star Yara Shahidi recently announced that she will be playing Tinker Bell in David Lowery’s Peter Pan and Wendy. This would mark the first time a person of color has filled the role that traditionally has featured a white actress and follows in the footsteps after Disney set Halle Bailey to play Ariel in The Little Mermaid.
Shahidi joins Jude Law, who will play Captain Hook, as well as Alexander Molony and Ever Anderson, who will play the title characters. The Disney film will be directed by Lowery who also co-wrote the script with Toby Halbrooks. Jim Whitaker is producing.
Sources say the release is expected to be theatrical and not go the Disney+ streaming route. In novel and films, Tinker Bell is a fairy and Pan’s closest friend and was famously played by Julia Roberts in Spielberg’s retelling. In recent years, Disney has been open to any actor playing a role that originally was limited to Caucasian talent, making waves after setting Bailey to play the mermaid Ariel. With Tinker Bell, the studio and Lowery wanted to do the same from the get-go and quickly pursued Shahidi, whose star has been on the rise for some time.
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