Meet the New Stars of Descendants: The Rise of Red

Welcome back to Auradon Prep.

9 Years ago, Walt Disney brought the greatest real-time fantasy to life, and hit it big with the first part of Descendants. And the filmmakers continued releasing masterpiece after masterpiece with the sequels.

Five years after the release of the last Descendants, i.e., Descendants 3 , Disney brings us back to Auradon Prep, along with other offspring of supervillains. Descendants: The Rise of Red, the fourth part in the franchise premiered on Disney+ on July 12 2024 and has been garnering attention with enough positive and negative reviews.

The fourth part takes place years after Descendants 3 ended, and now, Uma is the acting headmistress of the Auradon Prep, welcoming new offspring of supervillains to the school. She invited Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, from Alice in Wonderland. 

The storyline revolves around Red and Chloe, daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming as they try to travel back in time to try to undo the traumatic event that set Red’s mother down her villainous path. What prompts this journey is the Queen flying off her handle and inciting a coup on Auradon.

Which, in turn, prompts her daughter, Red to feel that it’s her responsibility to make everything right for her mother’s actions. Descendants fans, reminds you of something doesn’t it?

A New Generation of Disney kids

Kylie Centrall plays Red, the daughter of the Alice in Wonderland villain. You might remember her from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. She also played Gabby in Gabby Duran and the Unsittables, a Disney channel show.

And her best friend, Chloe Charming, is played by Malia Baker from the Disney Series, The Babysitters Club and Are you Afraid of the Dark?

The younger (less mad) version of Queen of hearts, the unhinged, villainous ruler, with a grudge is played by Ruby Rose Turner, from popular Disney Channel sitcom Fuller House. Rita Ora, delivers a phenomenal performance as the present version of the Queen.

Brandy Norwood plays Cinderella, Chloe’s mother. She fits her role perfectly and gives a great performance. Interestingly, Brandy has played Cinderella before in the 1997 classic by Walt Disney productions.

Other members of the cast include China Anne McClain returning as Uma, Joshua Colley from “Dead Boy Detectives” playing Hook, and Anthony Pyatt playing Hades among others.

Can we go back to 2015?

The Disney channel movie doesn’t have any of the main cast members of the previous parts, except for Uma. And fans couldn’t have been more disappointed by the news.

The attachment that we all have to the original Villain Kids (VKs): Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos, cannot be explained in words.

The original VKs, played by Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, Cameron Boyce and Booboo Stewart, were unwilling to return after Cameron Boyce died just before the premier of the third movie in the franchise. Boyce played Carlos De Vil, the sweet-natured dog-lover son of Cruella De Vil.

They also felt, rightly, that the story had come a full circle with the third film itself. Sofia Carson said in an interview with ET: 

“Descendants for us ended with Descendants 3.”

And fans agree, as one of them reviewed the movie by writing: 

“The film fails to capture the magic and charm that made the earlier movies beloved by fans.”
We are right there with you, people of the internet. Nobody could top as our first love other than Evie. And did you forget Jay’s dreamy, pirate-y looks, Carlos’ golden retriever energy that charmed everyone within minutes of meeting him. And of course, Mal, the perfect anti-hero the franchise could ask for.