{"id":31337,"date":"2026-08-07T18:00:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31337"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:00:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:00:47","slug":"descendants-franchise-expands-with-movie-about-iconic-disney-sidekicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=31337","title":{"rendered":"Descendants Franchise Expands With Movie About Iconic Disney Sidekicks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFirst it was the offspring of the heroes and villains, and now it\u2019s the kids of the sidekicks\u2019 turn in the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tDisney on Friday announced a new movie that expands <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/descendants-wicked-wonderland-malia-baker-kylie-cantrall-interview-1236653209\/\">the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/descendants\/\" id=\"auto-tag_descendants_1\" data-tag=\"descendants\">Descendants<\/a><\/em> universe<\/a> by focusing on iconic Disney sidekicks. <em>Hidden Heroes: A Descendants Story<\/em>, greenlighted for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/disney-channel\/\" id=\"auto-tag_disney-channel_1\" data-tag=\"disney-channel\">Disney Channel<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/disney\/\" id=\"auto-tag_disney_1\" data-tag=\"disney\">Disney+<\/a>, is described as a music-and-dance-fueled movie that \u201ccenters on the journey of the unsung heroes behind Disney\u2019s greatest adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe official logline: \u201cHidden in the center of each fairy tale is a portal to a secret training facility where the descendants of legendary sidekicks are challenged to join the elite ranks of partners to heroes. When a villainous duo comes to Sidekick Academy, a group of fresh recruits must band together \u2014 without heroes, without parents \u2014 using only their new skills to save the fairytale realm before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe movie stars Dior Goodjohn\u00a0(<em>Percy Jackson and the Olympians,<\/em>) as Jennie, daughter of Genie from <em>Aladdin<\/em>; Momona Tamada\u00a0(<em>The Baby-Sitters Club<\/em>) as Zara, daughter of Yzma from <em>The Emperor\u2019s New Groove; <\/em>Jacob Rodriguez\u00a0(<em>Tell Me Lies<\/em>) as Kronk Jr., son of Kronk from <em>The Emperor\u2019s New Groove<\/em>; Eva Fossaceca Smedley\u00a0(<em>Welcome to Flatch<\/em>) as Meri, daughter of Merryweather from <em>Sleeping Beauty<\/em>; and Harry Jones (<em>Bury Your Nephew<\/em>) as Lou, son of Lumiere from <em>Beauty and the Beast<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAlso in the cast are Rhys Dawkins, Connor Wong\u00a0and\u00a0Kyra Wong\u00a0as the Potts Siblings (from <em>Beauty and the Beast<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cOne of the things that has always made <em>Descendants<\/em> so special is the way it invites audiences to experience familiar Disney stories through an entirely new perspective,\u201d said Ayo Davis, president of Disney Kids &amp; Family. \u201cWith <em>Hidden Heroes,<\/em> we\u2019re finally putting the sidekicks center stage, because they\u2019ve always been an essential part of Disney\u2019s greatest adventures. It\u2019s a fun, surprising new chapter that expands the <em>Descendants<\/em> universe with all the music, dance and heart fans love and expect from the franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe movie, directed by Jude Weng (<em>Only Murders in the Building<\/em>), was written by Tamara Chestna, Eydie Faye and Emma Fletcher. Mark Ordesky (<em>Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires<\/em>) and Jane Fleming (<em>Zombies 4<\/em>) are executive producers, alongside Gary Marsh and Chestna, who executive produced <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/descendants-wicked-wonderland\/\" id=\"auto-tag_descendants-wicked-wonderland_1\" data-tag=\"descendants-wicked-wonderland\">Descendants: Wicked Wonderland<\/a>.<\/em> Louise Hradsky and Jeffrey Mortensen are the choreographers. The movie, produced by Disney Kids &amp; Family, goes into production next week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe announcement follows last month\u2019s debut of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-features\/descendants-5-wicked-wonderland-characters-plot-1236646459\/\">Descendants: Wicked Wonderland,<\/a> <\/em>the fifth film in the wildly successful franchise, which ranked as the No. 1 movie on Disney+ globally (based on views July 17-27). The soundtrack debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Soundtracks chart, reaching 50.8 million streams globally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tEach of the first three films ranked as the most-watched cable movie of their year. In 2024, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/descendants-the-rise-of-red\/\" id=\"auto-tag_descendants-the-rise-of-red_1\" data-tag=\"descendants-the-rise-of-red\">Descendants: The Rise of Red<\/a><\/em> debuted on Disney+ as the most-watched original movie among Kids and Girls 6\u201311.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe franchise also has extended to a live experience, with last summer\u2019s Descendants\/ZOMBIES Worlds Collide: Concert Special playing to sold-out crowds in more than 40 arenas across North America.\u00a0The Worlds Collide Concert Tour returns this year with 60 shows in North America, the U.K. and Europe, launching Sept. 25.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGoodjohn is repped by Gersh, Rothman\/Andres Entertainment and Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg &amp; Light; Tamada is with da Costa Talent, TFC Management, Gersh, Persona PR and Jackoway Austen;\u00a0Rodriguez is with Gersh and Kevin Donahue Management; Smedley is repped by\u00a0CESD Talent Agency; Jones is with Independent Talent Group, Prime Talent Media and Sloane, Offer, Weber &amp; Dern; Dawkins is repped by Performers Management; Connor Wong\u00a0and\u00a0Kyra Wong\u00a0are with da Costa Talent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First it was the offspring of the heroes and villains, and now it\u2019s the kids of the sidekicks\u2019 turn in the spotlight. Disney on Friday announced a new movie that expands the Descendants universe by focusing on iconic Disney sidekicks. Hidden Heroes: A Descendants Story, greenlighted for Disney Channel and Disney+, is described as a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/183003_1038R1.jpg?w=1440&h=810&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}