The Descendants: Royal Wedding: cast and release date of the animated special - and is it on Disney Plus?

The Descendants is one of the biggest Disney franchises to come out of the last six years, garnering a dedicated fan base eager to see more from their favourite characters.

Gary Marsh, President and Chief Creative Officer of Disney branded television, said: “[The Descendants] has the benefit of immensely talented stars, who we now welcome back for this animated Royal Wedding special that will bridge the audience to what we hope will be a new chapter of compelling Descendants stories and characters yet to come.”

While fans of the Descendants might be waiting a bit longer for an official fourth film, this animated special from the franchise should be more than enough to get viewers excited.

What is the Descendants: The Royal Wedding about?

The first Descendants film aired in 2015 on the Disney Channel, and it introduced us to the children of the classic Disney villains Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella de Vil.

Over the course of the Descendants, its sequels and its animated specials, we have seen the kids get involved in all kinds of adventures. At the end of Descendants 3, we saw Mal and Ben get engaged.

In Descendants: The Royal Wedding, the two are set to finally get married - but nothing goes to plan and in the trailer for the special we see Hades crashing the wedding.

Eagle eyed viewers will also have noticed an appearance from Maleficent who we haven’t seen since the first Descendants film when she was turned into a tiny lizard. There could be a chance that the evil queen could return to her human form, as we see the lizard being chased by Carlos’ dog Dude.

The animated special will also feature a brand new song, which the official Disney Vevo YouTube channel released earlier on Friday 13 August, called “Feeling the Love”.

Who is in the cast?

The original cast of the Descendants will return to lend their voices to the new animated feature, including:

Unfortunately, Cameron Boyce (General Hospital: Night Shift, Paradise City), one of the main stars of the Descendants, passed away in 2019 due to epilepsy complications.

Boyce portrayed Carlos, the son of Cruella de Vil, and reprised the character for the animated Descendants specials, and in the later sequels Descendants 2 and Decendants 3.

The Disney Channel confirmed that the animated special will be dedicated to the late actor.

In a statement, Disney said: “The absence of the character Carlos, played by the late Cameron Boyce, will be acknowledged in the storyline and Boyce’s memory will be honored in the telecast.”

The animated special is directed by Salvador Simó, who has directed projects such as Max Adventures in 2005, Paddle Pop Adventure s in 2011 and Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles in 2018.

When can I watch it?

The Descendants: The Royal Wedding will premiere on the Disney Channel on Friday 13 August after the new Disney Channel original movie Spin.

Unfortunately in the UK, Disney eliminated all of its Disney Channels as of September 2020 in favour of moving its content to the Disney Plus streaming service.

As of yet, there has been no release date officially announced for when The Descendants: The Royal Wedding might be making its way onto Disney Plus.

Will there be a fourth Descendants film?

Following the death of their co-star Boyce, the main Descendants stars have reported mixed feelings about returning to the franchise.

Speaking to HollywoodLife, Dove Cameron said: “What happened was so incredibly heart wrenching for all of us and something we could not recover from.

“And so I think that the idea of making another movie, while it would be nostalgic for all of us and while it would be healing in a lot of ways, it might also be super wrong.

“So it could go either way and it depends on how we’re all feeling and I think that the beautiful thing that Disney has done is that they have very much created a safe space for the cast to be wherever they’re at.

“They cancelled everything when Cameron [Boyce] passed and I know they want what’s in all of our best interests, so we’ll see. I doubt it, but we’ll see.”

Cameron also added, speaking to Entertainment Tonight: “I don’t love the idea of doing it without Cameron [Boyce], I don’t know what the plot would be and I don’t know what it would look like.

“But I also love the franchise, I love [director] Kenny [Ortega], and I love Disney and I love that cast.”