Melissa McCarthy Is Reported To Play The Role Of Ursula In Disney's Live-Action The Little Mermaid

Disney is continuing with their live-action remakes of favorite animated classics, the most recent one being 'Aladdin' and 'The Lion King' is going to come to our theater pretty soon with Beyoncé and Donald Glover starring in the movie. The revival of 'The Little Mermaid' is likely to have a similarly star-studded cast. Recently, the Mouse House just announced that Melissa McCarthy is in early talks to play Ursula, the sinister and sultry, body-positive sea witch for the live-action adaptation of 'The Little Mermaid'. 

As reported by Variety, Disney has signed McCarthy and they are "looking to make contemporary and compelling casting choices, while still paying homage to the beloved animated original." The movie is going to be directed by  Rob Marshall, who has previously directed 'Mary Poppins Returns' and his version of the movie is going to include beloved songs from directors Ron Clements and John Musker's 1989 animation as well as new songs from Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

Some people might point out that in the original movie, the character of Ursula was inspired by the late drag queen Divine, so for Disney to skip picking an LGBTQ+ actor or drag queen for the role is to miss an opportunity for greater representation, given the fact that this news came out at the end of Pride Month.

In the original 1989 movie, the character of Ursula was voiced by Pat Carroll, a cisgender white woman. The other choices for the cast included Tituss Burgess, Danielle Brooks, TS Madison, and pop singer Lizzo. Lizzo has also been a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race and is a strong member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Throughout the years, Disney's 'The Little Mermaid' has been adapted into a number of stage plays, ice spectaculars, spirited parades, video games, dark novellas, horror-inspired feature films, and anything else. With McCarthy joining the growing cast of Disney's live-action remake and up for the role of Ursula, and Halle Bailey playing the role of Ariel, it is only a matter of time until we know who all are going to play the role of Prince Eric, Sebastian, Flounder, Scuttle, King Triton, and of course, Ursula's diabolical eels, Flotsam & Jetsam.