‘Descendants’ Replaced, Disney+ Kicks Off New Fantasy YA Franchise

Disney has a new young-adult series to replace the struggling Descendants franchise, and it’s bringing back one of its greatest talents to direct it.

Cameron Boyce, Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, and Booboo Stewart dancing as, respectively, Carlos, Evie, Mal, and Jay in the Descendants. — Credit: Disney

The Descendants franchise kicked off in 2015 with a self-titled Disney Channel movie written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. The franchise explores the lives of multiple children of iconic fairy-tale villains played by various up-and-coming Disney stars.

In the series’ mythology, all of the nefarious characters and sidekicks from movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Sleeping Beauty (1959), and Aladdin (1992) have essentially been imprisoned on the “Isle of the Lost” and walled off from the good characters and their pleasant lives.

The image features characters from the Disney movie "Descendants." From left to right: Sofia Carson, Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, and Booboo Stewart. — Credit: Disney

The first film starred Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Booboo Stewart, and Cameron Boyce as the children of villains Maleficent (Kristin Chenoweth), the Evil Queen (Kathy Najimy), Jafar (Maz Jobrani), and Cruella de Vil (Wendy Raquel Robinson).

The rotten-to-the-core quartet is tasked with stealing the Fairy Godmother’s (Melanie Paxson) wand to free their parents, only to find themselves swayed by the niceness of being good and joining society.

Descendants was a huge success for the Disney Channel and quickly spun off into an animated series titled Descendants: Wicked World and two sequel films in 2017 and 2019.

A fourth film, The Rise of Red, was recently released and starred Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker as new potential villains; while it was reasonably well-received, it also features few returning characters. Undeniably, the franchise has begun to sputter out as breakout stars like Dove Cameron move on.

A group of young women dance in Rise of Red, including Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker. — Credit: Disney

Disney needs a replacement YA series to launch new stars and take advantage of public domain characters, and now it has it: Phantom of the Opera, directed by Disney Legend Kenny Ortega.

Deadline reports that Disney is developing a new YA-oriented movie tentatively titled Phantom, based on the 1909-1910 serialized novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. It is being helmed by Kenny Ortega, the acclaimed director behind both the Descendants and High School Musical franchises.

Emmy Rossum (as Christine) and Gerard Butler (as the Phantom) in the 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical. — Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Ortega is a huge figure in Disney Channel history, being the creative force behind two of its biggest properties. However, he stepped away from the Mouse House several years ago to work with Netflix, one of the company’s biggest rivals; that partnership resulted in the Julie and the Phantoms series, which only lasted one season.

It seems that Kenny Ortega now has a taste for Phantom-based media because he’s working to direct and executive produce this new Disney project based on a script written by Giovanni M. Porta. The KO Company, Disney Branded Entertainment, and Exile Content will produce the project.

Lon Chaney as the Phantom in the 1925 Universal Pictures adaption of Phantom of the Opera, one of the best-known versions of the story. — Credit: Universal Pictures

The Phantom of the Opera is one of the most famous and adapted stories in the world. Numerous film adaptations have been made, including an iconic 1925 Universal Pictures movie starring Lon Cheney and an enormously popular stage musical by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Now, it will get the ultimate honor: a Disney YA story.

Which is your favorite Descendants movie?