‘Hamilton’ Actor, Daveed Diggs, to Appear As This Character in Disney’s Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’
Life is the bubbles for fans of Disney and Hamilton. In fact, one actor from the Tony-award winning musical, Hamilton, is joining Ariel and all of her friends under the sea for Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. Here’s what we know about Daveed Digg’s acting role with this production.
A live-action adaptation of ‘The Little Mermaid’ is in the works
Hot off the heels of Disney’s Mulan, this studio plans to release another live-action adaptation — The Little Mermaid. This film tells the story of a spirited mermaid who dreams of life above the water. This movie is slated for a 2021 debut and now, fans have a closer look into the cast of this reboot.
In this version of the movie musical, actor and singer Halle Bailey, of the sister duo Chloe X Halle will portray the main character. However, she’s joined by a few other well-known performers, including one from the original cast of Broadway’s Hamilton.
Daveed Diggs is confirmed to portray one of the main characters in this reboot
Known for portraying Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton, Daveed Diggs is one actor joining Halle Bailey under the sea. There, he will portray the worried and stressed singing crab named Sebastian. (Some even expect him to perform the iconic song from the original movie, “Under the Sea.”)
“I’m playing Sebastian. He’s a crab. It’s great,” Diggs, 37, said during an interview with People at the Screen Actors Guild Awards red carpet. “We’re sort of just getting started over there, too. It’s just a great group… That’s the first movie I can remember being aware of before it came out and being excited to go to the movie theater.”
The actor appears alongside Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, Awkwafina as Scuttle, and Jacob Tremblay as Flounder. Another Hamilton actor, Lin-Manuel Miranda is also working on the creative side of this project, writing some of the music.
Lin-Manuel Miranda also has a hand in this adaptation
One of the creators behind Hamilton, (and well as the actor behind Alexander Hamilton in the original Broadway cast,) also has a role in The Little Mermaid. There, he writes alongside Alan Menken, creating new and original songs specifically for this live-action reboot.
“Halle Bailey is going to be such an incredible Ariel,” Miranda said during an interview with ET. “And getting to write music for these characters that are probably the reason I started writing musicals in the first place, it was actually easier than I thought.”
Hamilton, The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid Live!, and The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, are all available for binge-watching on Disney’s streaming platform. To learn more about Disney+ and to subscribe, visit their website.
