The Little Mermaid spoilers follow.
The live action remake of Disney’s classic The Little Mermaid has just swum into cinemas, and there is already talk about whether there could be a sequel, featuring the return of Halle Bailey as Ariel and Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric.
While there are no concrete plans for a follow up as yet, director Rob Marshall has spoken about whether a sequel or a prequel could be in the works, especially as the 1989 animated The Little Mermaid had both.
“I know there have been the prequels and sequels to the animated film – like, the straight-to-video kind of things, you know?” he told Total Film Magazine (via GamesRadar). “It’s a classic story that has a lot of characters and a lot of interesting stories. I do think it’s right for certain things.”
“But you have to see how a movie plays, and how it does… I think there’s always opportunity to find stories within stories. That’s always a wonderful thing.”
While we wait with Marshall to see how big a success The Little Mermaid is in cinemas, here’s everything you need to know about a potential sequel.
The Little Mermaid 2 potential release date: When will The Little Mermaid 2 be released?
A sequel to The Little Mermaid hasn’t been confirmed as yet, so we don’t have a release date for a potential sequel.
The first movie took quite a while to come to the big screen, so we may be in for a wait, however. It was first planned way back in 2016, with Rob Marshall coming on board as the director the following year. Production was due to start in 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and filming eventually took place between January and July 2021.
That’s almost two years before the film was ready for release, due to all the work needed to create the under the sea scenes.
“It involved, obviously, a blue screen for all the underwater work, and every kind of apparatus you can possibly imagine,” Marshall explained about the complicated process to Collider.
“[We had] a new technique called Anima, which is when something that’s too impossible to actually film because it’s just too physical, or no one could do it, that we then applied their face – it’s even different to motion capture – to a moment that’s just too complicated, and that was something that we were actually able to do with cameras and light, so that was incredible.”
With such a gap between initial production and the movie’s release, if a sequel was to start filming today (and remember, no sequel is currently in production), it is unlikely a finished movie would be ready for release until at least 2025. Blame those tricky underwater sequences.
The Little Mermaid 2 cast: Who would be coming back for The Little Mermaid 2?
While evil Ursula doesn’t survive to the end of the movie, which means Melissa McCarthy would be unlikely to return, most of the other characters are still around so we would hope to see all the leads back for a sequel including:
Halle Bailey as Ariel
Jonah Hauer-King as Eric
Daveed Diggs as Sebastian the crab
Jacob Tremblay as Flounder the fish
Javier Bardem as Triton
Awkwafina as Scuttle
Noma Dumezweni as Eric’s mother, Queen Selina
Art Malik as Sir Grimsby
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Diggs and Tremblay both confirmed they would be interested in returning for a sequel, which could be based on the animated sequel made in 2000.
“Is Flounder in that one?” Tremblay asked (yes, he is). “He’s got to have a family in that one!”
Bardem also said he would say “yes to everything” in terms of a sequel and suggested that “Ursula could have a great spin-off, and I could show up there for Christmas with the family.”
The Little Mermaid 2 plot: What will The Little Mermaid 2 be about?
The movie ends on a happy note with Ariel and Eric sailing away from his island home to build relationships with people from other lands, so there is definitely potential for a sequel that follows them on their adventures.
A follow up could even be based on the sequel to the 1989 animated movie – a 2000 direct-to-DVD adventure entitled The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea. That film is set 12 years after the original story of Eric and Ariel, and focuses on their daughter Melody, a human princess who does not realise she is part mermaid.
In that story, the evil monster is Morgana, Ursula’s sister, who wants Triton’s trident to help her take over the ocean world. Eric and Ariel have kept Melody’s heritage a secret to protect her – and have banned her from the sea – but one day she meets Morgana, who turns her into a mermaid as part of an evil plan to finally rule.
There is also a 2008 animated prequel – The Little Mermaid III: Ariel’s Beginning – that could be adapted into a live action film. It fills in the back story of King Triton and how his wife, Queen Athena died, and then picks up the tale when Ariel is 10 years old and she first meets Flounder.
The baddie in the prequel is Marina (voiced by Oscar-winning actress Sally Field), the strict governess to Ariel and her sisters. She isn’t really that evil but does have some nasty electric eels as her dastardly sidekicks.
The Little Mermaid 2 trailer: Is there any footage yet?
As no sequel to The Little Mermaid has started filming yet, there is no footage to see, unfortunately.
The Little Mermaid is in cinemas now.
Watch The Little Mermaid (1989) on Disney+
Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
