As with the first movie, Descendants 2 ended with a character telling the audience, "You didn't think this was the end of the story, did you?"
And, of course, it certainly wasn't the end of the story as Disney Channel officially confirmed that Descendants 3 was happening, marking another outing for the teenage children of classic Disney villains Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella de Vil.
The first sequel proved to be a huge success and was watched by almost 9 million viewers in the US on the night of its premiere, with the audience rising to 21 million when including delayed viewing. It's been a big hit in the UK too with a total of 1.3 million viewers by the end of November since its premiere on October 20, 2017.
Descendants 3 trailer: Watch them here!
The first teaser for the threequel was confirmed to be released on February 15 during the live-action movie premiere of Kim Possible in the US – and here it is now:
The 30-second teaser clip sees Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson), Carlos (Cameron Boyce), Jay (Booboo Stewart) back together with a number of familiar faces from the previous films as they fight, sing and come face-to-face with Hades (Cheyenne Jackson).
A longer trailer followed on April 5 that gave more of a hint of the movie's plot as the team battle a sleeping spell that is taking over Auradon.
And we finally got the proper full trailer on June 16, along with a new synopsis of the threequel. "Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay return to the Isle of the Lost to recruit a new batch of villainous offspring to join them at Auradon Prep," it reads.
"When a barrier breach jeopardises the safety of Auradon during their departure off the Isle, Mal resolves to permanently close the barrier, fearing that nemeses Uma and Hadeswill wreak vengeance on the kingdom.
"Despite her decision, an unfathomable dark force threatens the people of Auradon, and it's up to Mal and the VKs to save everyone in their most epic battle yet."
Descendants 3 release date: When's it coming?
After waiting an age for an official release date beyond summer 2019, the movie finally premiered on Friday, August 2 in the US on Disney Channel.
And it will finally arrive in the UK on Friday, October 11.
When Disney confirmed the release date earlier this year, they marked the occasion with the release of the movie's opening song 'Good To Be Bad'.
The release is slightly later than the previous two movies as they both launched in late July, but we have a feeling it'll still be a big hit anyway.
Filming wrapped on the threequel on July 18, 2018.
Descendants 3 cast: Which characters will be in it?
All the original cast will be returning, which means that Dove Cameron (Mal, daughter of Maleficent), Cameron Boyce (Carlos de Vil, son of Cruella), Sofia Carson (Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen), Booboo Stewart (Jay, son of Jafar) and Mitchell Hope (Ben, son of Belle and the Beast) will be in the threequel, since the story has always been about them.
Sadly, it was confirmed in July 2019 that Cameron Boyce had passed away at the age of 20 but the actor will still feature in Descendants 3, having completed his work on the film prior to his death.
It's also been confirmed that China Anne McClain will be back as Uma, the daughter of Ursula, while Brenna D'Amico will reprise her role as the Fairy Godmother's daughter Jane.
Other returning characters confirmed include Thomas Doherty as Harry Hook (son of Captain Hook), Sarah Jeffery as Princess Audrey (daughter of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip), Jedidiah Goodacre as Chad Charming (son of Cinderella and Prince Charming), Zachary Gibson as Doug (the son of Dopey the Dwarf) and Anna Cathcart as Dizzy (daughter of Drizella Tremaine).
New characters have also been revealed for the threequel, with Jamal Sims playing The Princess and the Frog's villain Dr Facilier, Jadah Marie starring as his daughter Celia, and American Horror Story's Cheyenne Jackson as Hercules villain Hades.
Jackson told People that his take on Hades is an "80s ex rocker God guy" and you want to see what that looks like? Here you go:
Christian Convery (Venom) and Luke Roessler (Legion) are on board as Squeaky and Squirmy, the sons of Peter Pan's Mr Smee.
We'll also no doubt get new characters introduced too, including the likely addition of Mal's dad who was confirmed to be joining the cast in the film's teaser.
So who knows? Maybe we'll see the main characters' parents again, like Kristin Chenoweth as Maleficent.
Descendants 3 plot: What is it about?
After an epic battle between Mal and Uma as a giant octopus and dragon, respectively, Descendants 2 ended with Mal reuniting with Ben, Uma swimming away, Mal giving her spell book to the Fairy Godmother and Dizzy accepting an offer to attend Auradon Prep with everyone else.
The plot of Descendants 3 teased that Mal will be reunited with her as-yet-unknown dad, and now the official synopsis for the film teases that the VKs will face their "most epic battle yet" in the threequel as they return to the Isle of the Lost to recruit a new batch of villainous offspring to join them at Auradon Prep.
"When a barrier breach jeopardises the safety of Auradon during their departure off the Isle, Mal resolves to permanently close the barrier, fearing that nemeses Uma (China Anne McClain) and Hades (Cheyenne Jackson) will wreak vengeance on the kingdom.
"Despite her decision, an unfathomable dark force threatens the people of Auradon, and it's up to Mal and the VKs to save everyone in their most epic battle yet."
That "dark force" seems to be the sleeping spell seen in the trailer and the only way to stop it is using Hades's "ember", otherwise it's "game over" for the kingdom of Auradon.
Disney has also previously released a short film Under the Sea: A Descendants Short Story.
This starred Mal, Uma, Harry Hook, Gil and Dizzy Tremaine and mainly centred on a sea battle between Mal and Uma, via a cover of Kelly Clarkson's 'Stronger'.
However, it's revealed that the battle wasn't real, but Mal senses that evil is coming and we hear Uma's voice through her necklace, saying that Mal will be in danger which sets up Descendants 3 nicely.
All Dove Cameron will say about the threequel is that it "ties up all the loose ends", but she added to Cosmopolitan that it's not necessarily the end of the series.
Kenny Ortega will also be back as director too, and he's admitted to TVLine that he's thought about which new characters he could add to the series. "Or I think about characters we already have and what their next journeys might be," he said back in July.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
