Descendants EP Answers Our Burning Questions About Rise of Red: Bonus Songs, ‘Missing’ Characters and More

How are characters chosen for the Descendants movies? Are any Disney properties off-limits?

The Descendants movies have always been littered with familiar characters (and their offspring) from countless Disney properties, and The Rise of Red is no exception. But what’s the process of getting characters approved for use in the series? And are any Disney icons totally off-limits?

“It’s actually pretty complex,” Todd explains. “As you can imagine, across the many divisions of the company, there are lots of different avenues and ways in which characters are being used and visited, from parks to movies to TV shows. So it’s pretty complicated in terms of how those things get shared.” Todd says this is “especially true when it comes to the princesses. There’s a very careful process for how those characters are used or portrayed.”

While Todd doesn’t believe that any Disney characters are necessarily “off-limits” or “banned” from being used in Descendants, she acknowledges that timing is a factor. It all depends on which properties are being developed in other ways.

“It’s just about making sure that we’re maintaining the integrity [of the characters],” she says. “When there’s another project that’s pushing them forward, like a new Frozen movie that’s coming, we would never do anything that steps on or contradicts something that’s going on with that character and their origin story.”

And here’s another fun fact from Todd: “I will say, the characters that we have in this movie were not the first round that we talked about. We went through many many cycles of figuring out both who we could use in the best way and who we were allowed to use.”

Which version of Cinderella and Charming are Brandy and Paolo Montalban playing?

This one’s for all you over-thinkers out there.

Although Brandy and Paolo Montalban previously co-starred in 1997’s made-for-TV production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the two aren’t technically reprising those roles for The Rise of Red. And despite singing “So This Is Love,” an iconic number from Disney’s 1950 animated version, they aren’t playing those exact characters either.

As Todd describes it, they’re actually portraying a third version of Cinderella and Charming, one conceived exclusively for the Descendants franchise. “They’re definitely our own characters,” she tells TVLine, “complete with their blue-colored hair.”

And we apparently have social media to thank for the on-screen reunion: “We cast Brandy [as Cinderella] and got so much love and outreach from people about wanting to see Paolo back,” Todd explains. “I don’t know that we were originally thinking about the Brandy/Paolo combination, because [the 1997 Cinderella] isn’t part of this IP. But I was so happy that he was willing to come back and do it.”

Were we ever going to see the dance?

Given all the hype surrounding the Castlecoming Dance, many viewers probably expected to see it play out towards the end of the movie. After all, not only was it the catalyst for Bridget turning evil but it was also where Cinderella and Prince Charming fell in love.

But according to Todd, “there was never a scene at the dance. We never planned to get there. A dance is always fun, but no, we never planned that.”

What happened to Zellie?

If you’ve been rabidly consuming every announcement about The Rise of Red since the movie was first confirmed back in 2022, you may remember Disney announcing a teenage version of Rapunzel (aka Zellie), played by That ’90s Show‘s Sam Morelos.

If so, you’re probably also wondering why Zellie appears only briefly during a group scene in the courtyard of Merlin Academy. According to Todd, the answer is simple: “We just literally ran out of real estate.”

“We had an incredible actress cast, and we had plans for her, but the movie is packed full,” Todd explains to TVLine. “It’s stuffed to the gills with so many characters, so much plot, so much singing and dancing. We had originally planned for some characters to have a bigger part and just ran out of room.”

Was 'Shuffle of Love' cut from the movie?

The Rise of Red is loaded with earworms, but there’s one particular bop that we hoped to hear more of — Ruby Rose Turner’s “Shuffle of Love,” which briefly plays through Bridget’s headphones while she’s practicing a card trick.

We have some good, albeit cryptic, news to share on that front: “‘Shuffle of Love’ is a song you’re going to hear more about,” Todd teases. “I think you’re going see some more of ‘Shuffle of Love’ in a new way after the movie.”

(Is it too much to hope that a follow-up music video, à la Dove Cameron’s “Genie in a Bottle” could be on the way?)

Is a fifth Descendants movie in the works?

Not to get too ahead of ourselves, but considering the movie ends with a warning about the unforeseen consequences of time travel, there has to be a sequel in the works, right?

According to Todd, Disney is “definitely working on and thinking about a follow-up movie,” though she won’t confirm our theory about Cinderella — and by extension, Chloe — turning evil as a result of the Queen of Hearts becoming good.

“I can neither confirm nor deny the future good or evil-ness of anybody other than saying that there will be future good and evil turns for sure,” she says. “It’s super fun thinking about it and trying to work it out.”