Halle Bailey, Disney's New 'Little Mermaid', Shares Her Excitement Over Role: It's a 'Dream Come True'

Halle Bailey couldn’t contain her excitement after it was revealed she will be playing Ariel in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid.

The Chloe x Halle singer, 19, shared a recreated image of Ariel on Twitter by artist Dylan Bonner, whose previous projects have included illustrations of Disney princesses.

“Dream come true…,” Bailey tweeted alongside the image of Ariel singing “Part of Your World” while waves crashed behind her.

The story of the image goes back to Valentine’s Day 2015, when a man, Brian Flynn, commissioned Bonner to create illustrations of every Disney princess in the image of his girlfriend Manini Gupta.

In a blog post at the time, Flynn explained he and Gupta “LOVE Disney movies” and that he wanted their “relationship to be as epic and timeless as the animations we grew up on.”

“So, I decided to have us painted into some famous Disney scenes and surprise her for Valentine’s Day,” Flynn wrote. “I had my incredibly talented friend Dylan Bonner help me with the artwork.”

Bonner drew Flynn and Gupta into some of Disney’s most classic films such as Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan and Tangled.

Disney announced Bailey had been cast in the role of Ariel on Wednesday. She could be joined by Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay, who are in talks to star as Scuttle and Flounder, respectively.

Melissa McCarthy is also in talks to star as the sea witch Ursula.

“After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” the film’s director, Rob Marshall (Chicago), said in a statement.

Alan Menken, who wrote the score to the original 1989 animated film, will return to create new music alongside Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, who worked with Marshall on Mary Poppins Returns.

Bailey first rose to fame after she and her sister, Chloe, caught the attention of Beyoncé after their rendition of “Pretty Hurts” in 2015.

Since then, the duo has joined Beyoncé on tour as her opening act for the European leg of The Formation World Tour. Beyoncé is also starring in a Disney live-action film with The Lion King, out later this month.

The sisters were also cast as series regulars in Grown-ish and wrote the theme song for the show.

Production for The Little Mermaid is anticipated to begin in early 2020.