Yara Shahidi Will Play Tinker Bell in a Live-Action Peter Pan —and There’s Already Fan Art
Yara Shahidi, the Black-ish and Grown-ish star who still found time to enroll at Harvard, is adding yet another impressive line to her sterling résumé: playing Tinker Bell in Disney’s live-action version of Peter Pan.
On September 25, the Twitter account for Grown-ish shared the major casting news for the upcoming Peter Pan and Wendy movie. “Sprinkle that fairy dust all over this news,” they tweeted. “@YaraShahidi as Tinkerbell in @disney's upcoming live-action #PeterPanandWendy.”
Within hours of the announcement, Twitter users were posting fan art of Shahidi and elated messages. With Chloe x Halle’s Halle Bailey cast as Ariel in the Little Mermaid remake, many on Twitter are excited to see more diverse representation in the Disney catalog.
“We’re getting Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell AND Halle Bailey as Ariel???? THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO SEE,” one user wrote. “Black women: WINNING. Racists: mad.”
There were also, of course, plenty of people asking why Disney continues to remake its own classics, which is a valid question…but back to Yara Shahidi! Besides the creative team and cast, which includes Jude Law as Captain Hook, not much is known about the project. For instance, will Tinker Bell talk in this version, or will Shahidi play the role through attitude alone, like her cartoon counterpart?
Shahidi herself has yet to comment on the big news but consistently uses her platform to advocate for diversity and social justice issues. During last weekend’s Emmy Awards, she said, “The stories we tell on TV shape how we see ourselves in others, and how we are seen can many times determine how we are treated,” according to BuzzFeed. “The dream of television is the freedom to live our full and nuanced lives outside of boxes and assumptions. We continue to strive for a more complete definition of inclusivity.”
Here’s to a pixie step toward that goal!
Originally Appeared on Glamour
