Here's How Disney's New "Descendants" Movie Honored Cameron Boyce
This post contains spoilers.
Descendants: The Rise of Red — a spinoff of the popular Disney Channel Descendants franchise — recently dropped on Disney+. It features all-new characters with only a few actors reprising their roles from the original films — most notably China Anne McClain as Uma.
The original trilogy starred Dove Cameron as Mal, Sofia Carson as Evie, Booboo Stewart as Jay, and Cameron Boyce as Carlos.
Sadly, a month before Descendants 3 premiered in 2019, Cameron died at age 20.
Disney shared a sweet tribute to the late actor and dedicated Descendants 3 to him.
You mean everything to us ?? pic.twitter.com/yIuesmkemn
— Descendants (@descendants) August 3, 2019
Disney Channel / Via Twitter: @descendants
Dove, Sofia, and Booboo continue to honor Cameron's memory in many ways, including reuniting at The Cameron Boyce Foundation's Cam for a Cause Annual Gala every year.
Initially, Disney's plans for a fourth live-action Descendants movie were met with criticism.
In 2019, Dove told Hollywood Life, "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 canceled everything when Cameron 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."
Then, in 2022, she told PopBuzz, "I'm gonna say no [to a reboot], because I don't think it would be the same without the whole original cast. It would just be different now, and also, we did it. We told a full story. We completed it."
However, in 2021, Dove, Sofia, and Booboo reprised their roles in the animated special Descendants: The Royal Wedding. Then, rather than make Descendants 4, Disney made a spin-off. Descendants: The Rise of Red honors Cameron's memory with a sweet, poignant moment between two returning characters.
As she's setting up her new office, movers hang a portrait of Carlos, Cameron's character.
Uma tells Fairy Godmother, the previous principal, about how she became friends with Queen Mal and King Ben, who later took down the barrier that prevented all of the villains from leaving the Isle of the Lost.
Since opening the Isle of the Lost began with inviting four Villain Kids to Auradon Prep, Uma gives Fairy Godmother an invitation for Princess Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, to attend.
Uma stands firm in her decision to invite Red in honor of Carlos.
Fairy Godmother — whose daughter, Jane, was Carlos's love interest — silently agrees.
Many viewers found the scene touching.
China said returning to the Role of Uma was healing for her, and Cameron Boyce being honored in ‘Descendants: The Rise of Red’ was so emotional and you can see truly how important that moment was for her pic.twitter.com/cMuv2Q7daj
— JT?? (@JTsLeague) July 13, 2024
Disney+ / Via x.com
China told People, "I was apprehensive to revisit the Descendants world at first, because losing Cam was the first heartbreak I've ever experienced. But once I saw how excited the new generation of kids were, it reminded me of myself when we created the original films."
"Everything came together beautifully. There's one scene that is very special to me, I'm sure the audience will be able to guess which one it is once they see the movie. Stepping back into Uma was very fulfilling and healing for me," she said.
Previously, Descendants: The Royal Wedding also honored Cameron in a touching scene.
