"Descendants: The Rise of Red" marks the first live-action film in Disney's next generation villains franchise in five years — and the first installment without Cameron Boyce.
Boyce, who died in July 2019, starred as Carlos, the son of Cruella de Vil, in 2015's "Descendants." He reprised that role in two subsequent films, including "Descendants 3," which premiered just months after his death.
"Descendants: The Rise of Red" premiered on Disney+ July 12 and marks the first film in the franchise since "Descendants 3." Most of the original trilogy's cast did not appear in the new iteration, with the notable exception of China Anne McClain, who plays Uma, the daughter of "The Little Mermaid" villain Ursula.
One of McClain's scenes featured a sweet nod to Boyce's character.
The film opens with her character taking over as headmaster of a school in the fictional land of Auradon, where famous Disney heroes and villains now live in relative harmony.
Her first task is to make sure kids from "all kingdoms" — including the "hostile" Wonderland, led by the Queen of Hearts — can attend Auradon Prep.
"Are you sure?" a nervous Fairy Godmother (Melanie Paxson) asks.
Uma then looks to a wall with a framed portrait of Boyce in character as Carlos.
"It's what Carlos would have wanted," she responds, choking up as a tear rolls down her cheek. "So don't do it for me. Do it in honor of him."
The moment implies that Boyce's character has died in the "Descendants" universe.
Boyce died July 6, 2019, from “sudden unexpected death in epilepsy,” the Los Angeles coroner's office said. He was 20 years old.
The original "Descendants" film focused on Carlos and his friends Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson) and Jay (Booboo Stewart) — the children of Maleficent, the Evil Queen from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and Jafar, respectively — as they attempt to end prejudice between the kids of heroes and the kids of villains.
A prologue to the 2024 film reveals that Mal, Jay and Evie are "on a new adventure, forming alliances with distant lands," explaining the other original actors' absences.
Boyce was close with his fellow "Descendants" co-stars. In December 2019, Dove Cameron appeared in a video with Vogue, which followed her getting her 11th tattoo, featuring a flower with a pistol coming out it in honor of Boyce.
“It’s sort of like a nationally recognized symbol for peace and for anti-gun movements,” she said in the video. “And also, my friend Cameron passed away a few months ago and he was starting this organization called Wielding Peace.”
While the original cast does not appear in "Descendants: The Rise of Red," the film welcomes newcomers Kylie Cantrall, who plays the Queen of Hearts' daughter, Red; Malia Baker, as Cinderella's daughter, Chloe; and Ruby Rose Turner, as a young Queen of Hearts.
The role of Cinderella is reprised by Brandy and her husband, King Charming, by Paolo Montalban, who both starred in 1997's "Cinderella."
Cantrell told Entertainment Weekly that the tribute to Boyce "only felt right and natural."
“That’s the part that gets everyone every single time,” she said. “I had seen so many versions of this script, and it’s altered and changed through each version, but the one thing that remained the same in the script was always that tribute. It just felt so right and so needed and so purposeful. We felt his presence throughout filming."
"His light that we were all fortunate enough to bear witness to is strongly felt," Baker added.
