Who plays Queen Selina in The Little Mermaid 2023?
By Sabrina Reed
When moviegoers view the live-action The Little Mermaid they’ll notice that more is going on in Prince Eric’s life than the original 1989 film depicted. Audiences know him to be a charismatic, young royal who loves the sea and respects the crew on the ship he’d been on before a storm caused him to go overboard. Ariel saves him in the animated classic and from there he’s determined to find the girl who brought him safely to shore…and that’s pretty much it for his characterization.
The remake, however, fleshes him out, making him a restless soul who feels caged by his nobility and within the castle walls that he calls home. The film also provides him with a parent: Queen Selina, a single mother and sovereign who does not share her son’s race. Eric’s life on-screen is fuller because of her and his similarities to Ariel who also desires to find her place in the wider world outside of what’s expected of her.
Who plays the Queen in the live-action movie? Here’s what we know!
Who plays Queen Selina in The Little Mermaid live-action?
Eric’s mother is played by Noma Dumezweni. When speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the prince and Ariel’s relationship and how Queen Selina plays into their dynamic, the actress had the following to say:
"It’s this sense of these babies being two outsiders of their origin story and then finding each other. That’s how I understood it and how Rob described it. So Eric being mothered and grown by a woman who looks like me on an island and you hear that story, and then you look at Ariel and her family and she being the outsider of that — there’s that sense of, ‘We recognize each other when we know what each other’s been through."
The Little Mermaid isn’t the first Disney film Dumezweni has been a part of. She played Miss Penny Farthing in the Emily Blunt-led movie Mary Poppins Returns. The actress is also known for playing Hermoine Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as an original cast member in both the West End and Broadway productions. Dumezweni won a Laurence Olivier Award for the role and was nominated for a Tony.
Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more The Little Mermaid news and coverage! The movie is in theaters now. We’ll keep you posted on when it’ll make its Disney+ streaming debut.