According to Variety, Disney has found a suitable human man to play the live-action interpretation of ideal cartoon man Prince Eric in its big remake of The Little Mermaid, with Jonah Hauer-King (A Dog’s Way Home, PBS’ 2017 Little Women) signing up to play the handsome sailor whose life gets turned upside-down when he meets a mermaid and then meets a very similar-looking woman with normal legs but no voice. Later, a talking crab tries to get him to kiss the girl, and then the crab gets wrapped up in an unnecessarily long subplot about an overzealous chef.
This comes after what sounds like a pretty intense search for the live-action Prince Eric, with Harry Styles reportedly turning down the role (even though his potential involvement may have just been a rumor anyway). Now, Hauer-King will be starring alongside Halle Bailey’s Ariel, Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula, Javier Bardem’s King Triton, and Daveed Diggs’ Sebastian (plus Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina, possibly as Flounder and Scuttle). Rob Marshall is directing, with the film featuring some new songs from original composer Alan Menken and some kid named Lin-Manuel Miranda who really seems to be going places.