Grown-ish star Yara Shahidi is set to play Tinker Bell in Disney’s Live-Action ‘Peter Pan.’ It is the first time a person of color has starred in a Disney role traditionally played by a white actress and follows Halle Bailey, who played Ariel in The Little Mermaid. A move by Disney to diversify more it’s popular characters. 

Shahidi,2o, will join Jude Law, who will play Captain Hook. The production of Peter Pan and Wendy is “expected to be theatrical and not go the Disney+ streaming route.”

The Peter Pan classic originated in 1953 from the adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s novel. The idea of a boy who never aged and lived in the magical world of Neverland has remained a love for decades. There have been both small and big versions of the tale.

Tinkerbell is a fairy and Peter Pan’s friend in both the novel and films. Remember Julia Roberts in Spielberg’s remake? Shahidi was the clear choice for the studio and filmmaker David Lowery, who co-wrote the script with Toby Halbrooks with Jim Whitaker producing. 

Shahidi rose to fame playing daughter Zoey on ABC’s Black-ish, which gave the green light to the spinoff Grown-ish to chronicle her college years, which was renewed for a fourth season pre-pandemic but will not return until 2021. 

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