I Asked Jonah Hauer-King If A Live-Action Little Mermaid 2 With Halle Bailey Was Coming, And I Love That He Brought 'Sporting A Beard' Into His Response
The Little Mermaid's live-action adaptation received largely rave reviews from audiences, to the point where appetite for a sequel has been growing. Who wouldn't want to see one of the best kids movies for a new generation come back for another movie? And considering there's already an animated sequel to adapt, surely the work wouldn't be too hard. One would think, but there is a hangup about Halle Berry and Jonah Hauer-King aging up to play parents, though the former mentioned to CinemaBlend that sporting a beard may help him out.
I had the opportunity to speak to Jonah Hauer-King ahead of his latest appearance in the Doctor Who episode "Lucky Day," which is available to stream right now with a Disney+ subscription. Given that CinemaBlend's The Little Mermaid review gave it a favorable review, I wondered if there was anything he could say about returning as Prince Eric for a live-action adaptation of the sequel. He answered with this:
I'd be down. Hey, listen, I'm sporting a beard at the moment. Maybe it's throwing a few years on me? I don't know. I would be up for it because I had a great time, and I loved working with Halle. Rob Marshall is an amazing director. So, if it's around, who knows, but I've not heard anything yet.
Of course, we had to talk about the fact that Eric and Ariel are parents in the sequel, meaning he'd have to look older. That didn't seem to be a problem for Hauer-King, who noted his facial fuzz potentially helps him look older.
The fact that he didn't say The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea is a complete impossibility sounds good for anyone who wants to see it. As for the rest, I'll let the reader decide is enough to make Jonah Hauer-King look old enough to have a child the same age as Melody, the daughter introduced in the direct-to-video sequel for the Disney movie. It's not out of the realm of possibility that an actor approaching his 30s could be the parent of a 12-year-old!
While that may be true, it may be harder for a general audience to imagine two actors they just saw a couple of years ago as Ariel and Eric are now parents to a pre-teen child. I'm sure there are maybe a person or two at Disney who think that too, considering that Jonah Hauer-King hasn't heard anything about a follow-up movie happening.
It also wouldn't be surprising if anyone at Disney was apprehensive to make a live-action sequel of The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea, as CinemaBlend's review might illustrate. With so many upcoming live-action Disney remakes on the horizon, I think it could be a while before Disney puts this one on the docket, but that's just speculation on my end. Hey, maybe by that time, Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King will look more convincing as parents.
We can only wait and see what happens. In the meantime, feel free to stream The Little Mermaid on Disney+ and read up on what Hauer-King had to say to CinemaBlend about his character's portrayal in the latest episode of Doctor Who. For those who haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it to see a completely different side of the young actor!
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