Brandy Norwood Returns as Cinderella in Disney's 'Descendants: Rise of Red'

The long-awaited return of Brandy Norwood as Cinderella in a new Disney flick has received an official first glimpse thanks to a video taken on the Descendants: Rise of Red set.

After playing the princess opposite Whitney Houston‘s Fairy Godmother in the 1997 film Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Norwood is repeating the role 26 years later.

Paolo Montalban, who portrayed Norwood’s Prince Charming in the classic, will make a comeback in Descendants: Rise of Red. Now, Cinderella is queen and Prince Charming is king.

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Norwood joined the cast of the Descendants movie as Cinderella, Variety announced in November. The working title for the movie musical at the time was The Pocketwatch.

The connection between Red (Kylie Cantrall), the disobedient adolescent daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe (Mia Baker), the jovial but innocent child of Cinderella and Prince Charming is the main focus of the movie. To save the fall of their homeland, the kingdom of Auradon, the two must go back in time.

Brandy Norwood Returns as Cinderella in Disney’s ‘Descendants: Rise of Red’

As the dictatorial Queen of Hearts, Rita Ora also stars in the movie. The cast also includes Melanie Paxson as the Fairy Godmother, China Anne McClain as Uma, the sea witch Ursula’s little daughter from The Little Mermaid, Morgan Dudley as Ella, and others.

The children of the studio’s most notorious villains are the focus of Disney’s Descendants franchise. Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson starred in the 2015 original, which had over 6 million viewers when it premiered on the Disney Channel. Then, in 2017 and 2019, there were two sequel movies.