Disney has officially entered the chat on a live action Princess Tiana film, and before the ink is even dry on anyone’s contract, the internet has already held auditions, picked a cast, argued about the songs and decided that Colman Domingo absolutely must play the villain while they are at it. According to a July 17 exclusive from Deadline, Domingo is in talks to co write an original live action project centred on Princess Tiana, inspired by the beloved 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog. His writing partner is Robert O’Hara, the Tony nominated director behind Broadway’s Slave Play. Deals are not yet finalised and the project is still in its earliest stages, but that has not stopped social media from treating this like a full casting announcement with a release date.
This Is Not The Remake You Are Thinking Of
The most important thing to understand about this project is what it is not, because that is exactly why people are excited rather than nervous. This is being developed as a spinoff of the 2009 animated film, not a direct scene for scene remake in the vein of Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid. Multiple outlets including Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have confirmed the film is an original story inspired by Tiana’s world, meaning the writers are building something new from the bones of the original rather than photocopying it with a bigger budget. Given how Disney’s recent live action remakes have landed with audiences, with Moana receiving a particularly rough reception at the box office this year, choosing the spinoff route rather than the remake lane looks like a smart, if overdue, pivot.
Who Is Colman Domingo And Why Should You Care
If the name Colman Domingo does not immediately ring a bell, his resume will. He is a two time Academy Award nominee for his lead performances in Rustin and Sing Sing, a Tony Award nominee for writing the Donna Summer Broadway musical, and this year alone he scored two Emmy nominations for his work in The Four Seasons and Euphoria. The man is not a Disney hire who happened to be available. He is a genuinely decorated storyteller with deep roots in Black American narratives and theatre, which is precisely the kind of creative DNA a story set in 1920s New Orleans actually needs. His co writer Robert O’Hara is equally serious, with Broadway credits directing Slave Play and A Raisin in the Sun under his belt. This pairing is less about star power and more about the suggestion that Disney might actually want this to be good.
Everyone Remembers The Frog Problem
Here is the thing nobody has ever been shy about saying. The Princess and the Frog is a genuinely wonderful film with gorgeous animation, a memorable villain in Dr. Facilier and songs that still live rent free in the heads of anyone who saw it in 2009. But Tiana spends the majority of her own movie as a frog. Disney’s first ever Black princess, a character who carries the whole film on her shoulders, is a frog for most of it. Fans have been pointing this out for seventeen years. The announcement that this new project is an original story means the writing team has a clean slate to put Tiana front and centre as the human, ambitious, fully realised character she was built to be, just with more room to breathe and fewer lily pads. One fan on X summed it up cleanly: the problem with the original was that Tiana was a frog too long. Colman Domingo, they added, will fix that.
The Internet Has Already Cast The Whole Film
Within hours of the announcement, the fan casting machine was running at full speed. The overwhelming favourite for Tiana herself is Coco Jones, the singer and actress who has been building serious momentum across both music and television, and who fans argue has the vocal range, the screen presence and the emotional depth the role demands. For Prince Naveen, Jaafar Jackson has been the most loudly requested name, partly for his natural charisma and partly, one suspects, because fans enjoy the symmetry of casting a Jackson in a Disney musical. There is also a persistent and not entirely joking faction pushing for Colman Domingo himself to take on the role of Dr. Facilier, which would be spectacular if true and which Domingo has not ruled out by virtue of not having commented publicly yet. Anika Noni Rose, who voiced Tiana in the original and has always been beloved in the role, has been suggested for a supporting part, possibly as Tiana’s mother, as a way of passing the torch with some grace.
Where This Sits In Disney’s Bigger Picture
The Princess and the Frog was a landmark release when it came out in 2009. It was Disney’s last hand drawn animated feature, it grossed 267 million dollars worldwide and it earned three Oscar nominations including Best Animated Feature. It also gave Disney its first Black princess, which was a cultural moment that mattered well beyond the box office. Disney had previously tried to continue the story through an animated Disney Plus series called Tiana, but that project was cancelled before it reached audiences. This live action spinoff, then, is the second attempt to give the character a genuine follow up, and this time the creative team on paper is significantly stronger. Whether the project makes it past early development is a different question, but right now the combination of a strong writing duo, a smarter format choice and seventeen years of pent up fan demand makes this feel like it actually has a shot.
Vestiworld Take
Disney has a habit of announcing things that sound great in a press release and then delivering something that looks like the press release was the best part. But the Princess Tiana spinoff, at least on paper, is different from the usual formula. Hiring two Black writers with serious theatrical credentials to tell a fresh story about Disney’s first Black princess, set in the richest musical and cultural landscape in American history, is the right call. The fandom already knows exactly what they want. Coco Jones as Tiana. Good songs. Tiana as a human for basically the whole film. New Orleans looking like New Orleans. None of that is complicated. Now it just has to actually happen.
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