On Descendants: characters, continuity, and the upcoming movie Wicked Wonderland
I’ve always wondered why the Descendants franchise had so little character continuity between the books, the animated series and the movies. But as long as it was between two different mediums, it was fine. Now, though, continuity is disappearing even within the movies, or at least it’s really confusing. For example:
In the TV series, we have Freddy.
Why? Just… why. You already created one kid, you could’ve stuck with that instead of making new ones who never even mention their siblings.
Same thing with Captain Hook’s kids:
In D2 and D3 we have his son Harry.
In D4, we got Captain Hook himself.
In D5, Hazel, another daughter.
And don’t even get me started on Ursula’s situation:
In D2, D3, and D4 we have her daughter Uma.
In D4 also her sister Uliana.
Whyyyy. Why create another sister when Ursula already has a canon sister, Morgana (from The Little Mermaid 2), who is a much more interesting character than Uliana?
The conclusion I came to is that they just really like certain aesthetics (or they’ve already made them so they’re easy to reuse), like voodoo or sea/pirates, and they keep recycling them as much as possible in the movies.
Another thing that confuses me is the Charming family. King Charming is asian, Cinderella is black, but:
In the original trilogy we have their son Chad, who is white and blond, basically matching the animated Cinderella.
In D4 and D5 we have their daughter Chloe, who is a perfect mix of her parents.
Sure, adding the rest of the family after Chad was a late decision, so maybe there was a retcon. Or maybe Chad is adopted. Who knows.
Another thing that genuinely baffles me is the cast choice for the upcoming movie Wicked Wonderland:
Red and Pink, daughters of the Queen of Hearts (what is with this names... help).
Chloe Charming, daughter of Cinderella and King Charming.
Max Hatter, son of Maddox Hatter, grandson of the Mad Hatter.
Luis Madrigal, son of Luisa Madrigal.
Hazel Hook, daughter of Captain Hook (another color as a name btw).
Robbie Hood, son of Robin Hood (human, thankfully. Even this one, why?! There's a lot of characters you could have chosen from, and you've chosen to turn a fox into a human...).
Felix Facilier, son of Dr. Facilier.
Squeaky and Squirmy Smee, the twin sons of Mr. Smee, aged up from D3.
It’s such a random cast. We’ve got recycled aesthetics, reworked versions of old characters. Like, at this point they could’ve just picked one aesthetic and stuck with it, or at least kept everything themed around Wonderland. Or even Cinderella! Where is Chad? Or Dizzy (Drizella’s daughter, Lady Tremaine’s granddaughter), seriously! They exist, why not use them?
Anyway, I’m still hyped for the new movie, it already looks better than D4. I generally love the aesthetic of Wonderland. I also really like the first song released, Perfect Princess, even the music video is really cool. If the rumors are true, I actually like the idea of Maddox Hatter and Chloe as villains, and I’m already shipping Red and Max. There’s supposed to be a romance, so I really hope it’s between them. I was a kid when the first Descendants came out, and now I'm 24 waiting for the fifth movie. I just can't stop watching.
