After a 25-year break, Brandy Norwood will step back into her glass slippers to play Cinderella in the upcoming Disney+ film The Pocketwatch.
The Pocketwatch is the latest installment in the Descendants franchise. Norwood will return to the role of Cinderella, which she first played in the 1997 live-action Walt Disney Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The cast also included the late Whitney Houston who played Cinderella’s fairy godmother, as well as Whoopi Goldberg, Bernadette Peters, Paolo Montalban and Jason Alexander. The film would prove to be a ratings success with 60 million viewers, earning ABC its highest Sunday night ratings in over a decade. It would also be nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning for Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program.
In addition to Norwood, Rita Ora (Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight) has been cast as the tyrannical Queen of Hearts, who rules over the kingdom of Wonderland, Kylie Cantrall as Red, the rebellion teenage daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Malia Baker as Chloe, the cheerful and booksmart daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming. In The Pocketwatch, Red and Chloe cross paths at a celebration in Auradon when chaos breaks out. In order to prevent an impending coup, they must join forces to travel back in time via a magical pocket watch created by the Mad Hatter’s son, to stop an event that would leave to dire consequences.
Jennifer Phang (Advantageous, The Flight Attendant) will direct and co-executive produce with a screenplay by Dan Frey and Russell Sommer (Magic: The Gathering).
