As the film Descendants: The Rise of Red begins, a royal decree is issued, stipulating that Auradon Prep, the elite boarding school for Walt Disney’s classic characters, would welcome a new class of VK’s — villains’ kids, or the offspring of Disney’s most nefarious antiheroes. Admission letters were sent off with the flourish of a wand and the Descendants franchise began a new journey.
The coming-of-age Descendants films have been tentpoles of the Disney Channel since 2015, when the first Descendants won over children and tweens. The two sequels, Descendants 2: It’s Going Down (2017) and Descendants 3 (2019), did equally well, each becoming the most watched TV movie among ages 6-14 when it premiered. The July release of Rise of Red, the franchise’s fourth installment, has kept the streak going, drawing 6.7 million views in the first three days after its debut on Disney+, making history as the most viewed original film premiere on Disney+ for Disney Branded Television studio.
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It was a notable win for the streamer given that the film features a new, unfamiliar batch of characters. A voiceover at the beginning of Rise of Red explains that the protagonists of the first three films are “sailing off to new adventures.” In real life, the original actors grew up and expanded their careers outside of the Disney Channel universe. Dove Cameron (who played Maleficent’s daughter, Mal) had a recurring role on the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon! and released a solo album in 2023. Sofia Carson (Evie, the daughter of Snow White’s Evil Queen) led the 2022 Netflix film Purple Hearts, and wrote and performed songs for the soundtrack. And Booboo Stewart (Jafar’s son, Jay) has gone on to appear in several indie films. (Cameron Boyce, who played Cruella del Vil’s son, Carlos, died at age 19 from an epileptic seizure in 2019.)
With the core stars moving on, Disney Branded Television president Ayo Davis faced a dilemma: Expand the franchise or cap a wildly successful series?
Davis believed the Descendants could grow.
“We knew that we needed to launch a new set of actors, we needed a cast of very talented young stars that could carry this torch, and bring these new characters to life in a way that would not alienate any old fan, but bring them along for the ride and introduce that new generation,” says Davis.
Rise of Red’s new cast includes British singer Rita Ora, who steps in as the Queen of Hearts, and Disney star Kylie Cantrall, from Gabby Duran & the Unsittables, who plays her daughter, Red. R&B singer Brandy Norwood and Paulo Montalban reprise their respective roles as Cinderella and Prince Christopher from Cinderella, the 1997 ABC TV movie. Malia Baker, from Netflix’s The Baby-Sitters Club, plays their daughter, Chloe.
With Descendants: The Rise of Red, the story not only introduced new characters but extended the borders of the Magical Kingdom. Music from the film reached No. 1 on Billboard’s soundtracks and kids albums charts, with standout single “Red” garnering 31 million views in YouTube, “Life Is Sweeter” drawing 22 million and “What’s My Name (Red Version)” more than 16 million.
If not specific actors or characters, what is the key to Descendants‘ continued success? Davis says it starts with the story and ends with a good sing-along.
“A core part of our strategy at Disney Branded is really fueling stories with magic, adventure, wonder and heart. We talk about that a lot,” says Davis, who was named president in 2021. “But the thing that really appeals to kids, specifically in franchises like Descendants, or whether it’s Hannah Montana, or Jonas Brothers, or Zombies, for that matter, it’s music. We know that music is global, and it’s universal, and it travels. Dancing is universal and global. And dressing up in costumes is universal and global.”
Davis acknowledges that the new story doesn’t represent much of a departure from the existing material. Davis says, “The common theme that we’ve been able to intricately weave in all of the stories, from one, two, three and four that resonate with kids around the world. The music, the dancing, the world-building, that magic, and that wonder and adventure — it’s all of those core things that get kids to immerse themselves in the environment … to live and breathe these characters, and to want to be them.”
Descendants’ success extends beyond the screen: Nearly 7 million dolls and 9 million books have been sold. For nearly seven straight years, from 2015 to 2021, Descendants’ character costumes were among Disney’s top five licensed merchandise. Before Rise of Red, original songs from the earlier films had over 15 billion audio and video streams and 8 billion TikTok views.
In 2023, as Disney Branded Television celebrated its 40th anniversary, Davis and her team scored a hit with another beloved franchise: Percy Jackson and the Olympians. When asked if last year’s launch of the new series — likewise introducing an unfamiliar cast — informed how the studio would market Descendants, she says, “the lessons that we took from Percy, because Percy came first, was ensuring that the approach was thoughtful.”
Davis continues: “We never want to alienate the fans that made the movie and the characters who they are today. It was so important for us to ensure that the stories could build off of where we were going. What was different for Percy is we had the ability to sort of evolve a lovely movie into an epic television series, where kids and families could live with the characters that they loved far longer than you can in a 90-minute movie. And having the ability to do it with the creator [Rick Riordan], the author of the books, and having him bless that was really important.”
“Descendants is our baby, it has been a part of the family for over 10 years,” says Davis. “To see us be able to pick up the torch five years later from Descendants 3 … They did a wonderful job of crafting that story in a way that kept the legacy alive, kept the essence of the characters from the parks alive, and opened up a world that gave us the ability to launch new worlds off of that.”
