Halle Bailey Opens Up About Playing ‘The Little Mermaid’ and Facing Backlash About Role

Halle Bailey is opening up ahead of her Little Mermaid debut, which is set to premiere in May 2023. After a long road of pushbacks, it seems like the role of a lifetime is finally coming true for the 22-year-old. 

Bailey was cast as the new Ariel four years ago, but COVID pushed back many productions, including Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever, set to premiere around Thanksgiving in 2022. As The Little Mermaid just wrapped production, everyone is just waiting now. 

In an interview with Variety, Bailey talks about making history, like being the second Black Disney princess (Anika Noni Rose being the first with Princess Tiana), backlash landing the role, and what playing the character will mean for her generation and many younger ones. 

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The child star has had some leading roles, like being a main cast member on Freeform’s Grown-ish. Now, she’s ready to take on prominent roles and elevate her career to the next level. 

“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special and that they should be a princess in every single way,” Bailey says regarding being a woman of color landing a historically white role. “There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.” 

And though it’s a win for the Black community, Bailey had just as many haters when the hashtag “NotMyAriel” trended on Twitter after it was announced she would be the new “Little Mermaid.” 

Chloe Bailey, her sister, chimed in to say how important family is regarding social media. “It’s important to have a strong support system around you. It’s hard to carry the weight of the world on your own.” The tight-knit family used the opportunity to get closer after the young actor received so much backlash for her new dominating role. 

Bailey also got advice from her grandparents, who endured racist and discriminatory times before being considered. “It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you.” 

Describing filming as metamorphic, Bailey has grown since auditioning for the role at 18 and wrapping production at 21. 

“I find myself learning things from these characters and trying to adopt them and keep them with me as I go about my life,” Bailey says. “It’s like the universe is trying to give these themes to me, like ‘Here, do it! We’re putting it in through the characters.” 

She adds, “When I moved away to London, I learned so much about myself,” she says. The U.K. and Italy-based shoot was the longest she had ever been away from her family in Los Angeles, and the shoot was emotionally and physically demanding. “It was kind of a shock because I had never done anything like that before.” 

Bailey will transform into a live Ariel, with red locs and a full-on costume tail matching the Disney princess’s whimsical side. 

After several COVID delays, The Little Mermaid will hit theaters next summer.