Once Upon a Time Fantasy Casting: Which Disney Characters Do You Want to See on the Show, and Who Should Play Them?

With several new characters slated to appear on Once Upon a Time in the next few weeks, and knowing that the show has the entire catalog of Disney properties at its fingertips, it's almost impossible not to speculate about which beloved characters will pop up next. What horrible modern ruts will they be stuck in, how will their happy endings have been destroyed, and, most importantly, who will play them? Here are some suggestions; ABC casting directors, feel free to take notes.


Ariel from The Little Mermaid

STORYLINE: If Ariel has had her happy ending reversed, as Cinderella did in "The Price of Gold," then she probably doesn't have her voice anymore. And since Maine is one of the few places in New England where people actually surf, I'd love to see Ariel on a longboard as a surfin' mute in a wetsuit, lifeguarding the rocky Maine coast, possibly saving Henry from a riptide in an upcoming episode.
CASTING: Teen Wolf actress Holland Roden would be an amazing Ariel. It's not just the red hair; Holland's got an expressive face, which is important when you're playing a sulky mute. Also, tell me Ian Somerhalder isn't a perfect face match for Prince Eric. You can't, 'cause he is, case closed, roll film.


Aurora from Sleeping Beauty

STORYLINE: Who better to help "John Doe" recover his memory than a sleep regression therapist? Sleeping Beauty could guide him while he lay slumbering in a trance-like state until he remembers his fairytale past.
CASTING: Now that Lizzy Kaplan has dyed her hair blonde, she actually bears a striking resemblance to cartoon Aurora. Plus she's hot like tamales and smart like Einstein. Put her on my screen!


Peter Pan and Tinkerbell from Peter Pan

STORYLINE: I see Storybrooke's Peter Pan as the head of some troubled boys' gang, repeating his sophomore year of high school for the second time, sneaking in through his girlfriend's bedroom window, and constantly manipulating his hook-handed foster dad. Tinkerbell? His frustrated but loving case worker.
CASTING: You mean besides this guy? Sterling Knight seems like an obvious choice for Peter Pan. And there's a reason Kristen Bell and Tinkerbell have the same last name. That's right, I'm calling it out: You're a fairy, Kristen! Wear it loud, wear it proud. Come out of the elf closet and start openly drinking from your acorn cups and fluttering past the rush-hour traffic.


Alice from Alice in Wonderland

STORYLINE: Alice in Wonderland is about drugs, right? Come on, let's be real. Tell the kids to go into the other room for a few minutes. Mushrooms, hookahs? We know what's up. I see the modern Alice as a girl locked up in an insane asylum/rehab facility by Regina after kind of losing her mind due to heavy drug use.
CASTING: My first pick is Juno Temple, as she certainly is familiar with playing the wrongfully institutionalized after her turn in getting roped into attending the premiere of the atrocious Sucker Punch. Also, real British accent: HOLLA! But if she's too busy being in the next Batman movie, then Taylor Momsen, because: look at her. She probably has an entire yearbook full of ex-boyfriends carved into those arms.


Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog

STORYLINE: They could just pick up the storyline from Disney's The Princess and the Frog, but minus Prince Naveen. Tiana is running her restaurant in Maine, and has taken out a small business loan from Rumpelstiltskin, putting her under his power.
CASTING: If you love America's Next Top Model like I do, then you were absolutely floored to see one-time contestant Yaya Dacosta in The Kids are Alright. Much like Tiana, her face is pretty much perfect and she's gotten to where she is through sheer hustle. I want to see her on her way to becoming America's Next Top Fairytale Character.


Tarzan from Tarzan

CASTING: Taylor Kitsch should make regular appearances as Tarzan. Right, ladies? Tarzan isn't a fairytale, per se, but I see no reason why that should prevent the titular character from appearing as a feral man who runs through the streets naked occasionally. Frequently. Constantly.


Rapunzel from Tangled

STORYLINE: I see her as a very sheltered, home-schooled girl whose mom is basically in a cult and makes her wear long prairie dresses and French-braided hair... until Emma intervenes, gets her a real job alongside Red Riding Hood, and her new goth friend Red shaves her hair off like an Empire Records bestie.
CASTING: Blake Lively could get a day off and film this, right? They could use a head double for the shaving scene.


Aladdin and the Genie from Aladdin

STORYLINE: So, to shamelessly build on my own fan fiction, let's say Aladdin is a member of Peter Pan's gang who's gone rogue and gotten into more and more serious thievery. The Genie could be played by a giant, blue, cloudy CGI figure in the fairytale storyline, but the real-world character would probably fit in best as a club promoter. He'd be promising drinks, comps, candy, cuties, and anything else anyone could want to his VIPs, all the while paying huge kickbacks to Rumpelstiltskin.
CASTING: Ricky Ullman would make a stunning young Aladdin. With his lopsided grin, he'd come off like a kindhearted scamp even while prying the radio out of your car. The Genie is harder—I wouldn't want to see some sad Robin Williams impersonator, but we would need someone who is truly hilarious and brings that special energy to the character. For my money, the most energetic comic personality of our day is Katt Williams. If he's busy, put a call out to Jack Black or Danny McBride.


Who did we leave out? Who would you cast differently? How would YOU want to see these characters portrayed? And who do you want to see most on Once Upon A Time?

  • IsabelFernand1

    Ian Somerhalder for Prince Eric is beyond perfect!!!! This list is amazing!

  • lostkatie

    Love the list, Love the show, I'd like to see a Robin Hood, steals from the rich to give to the poor..

  • Danah

    this is brilliant, i was laughing so hard while reading this XD.
    but getting serious here, i honestly would NOT mind the tarzan thing myself

  • puglove

    Amy Adams Little Mermaid
    Elle Fanning Sleeping Beauty

  • SalFromCanada

    How about Justin Bieber as Tinker Bell? That's not much of a stretch!

    I remember reading somewhere that the drawing of Ariel as the Little Mermaid was inspired by Alyssa Milano, so if anyone can play Ariel it should be her.

    Also, if Snow White is one of the main characters, then what happened to the Seven Dwarfs? Do they not exist in Storybrooke, USA? I can imagine how many actors are simply dying at the chance to play one of those parts, even if only for one week.


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  • ronwhitehouse

    I might be beating a dead horse here, but I feel one of the program's bigger failures is it's obligation to draw upon the Disney pantheon, rather than the original fastasy source material. Yes, I get that ABC is owned by Disney...and in our family we've always been big fans, so I don't mean to put down their versions in any way. But as we all know, Disney mythology is a far cry from the old classics that inspired them: they take a LOT of artistic license, invent new characters, rewrite the plots, etc. For instance, they managed to turn the tragic love story of "The Little Mermaid" into a happily-ever-after variation where the main character actually survives (leading to a sequel and a prequel). The point I'm trying to make is that "Once Upon a Time" is not using it's own premise to full advantage; here is an opportunity to re-imagine one of the greatest literary canons of all time, and instead they continue to fall back on the big 'D'. I would suggest they do what Marvel Comics has done over the last decade, in their line of "Ultimate" graphic novels. They took a ton of characters and premises from their traditional mythology, threw everthing else out the window, and then rebooted the whole works in a completely fresh and unique way. It's been absolutely liberating, resulting in many new stories full of familiar faces, but without any other ties to the past. And guess what...Marvel's been selling these new books like crazy, along with their older traditional titles. Disney has no reason to fear losing sales, if they were to make a product that doesn't tie-in with the rest of their stuff...it's still effective cross-merchadising of a different color.moreless

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    • CorrinePoole

      But I do agree they should go crazy and make reinvent the tales in creative ways and not be held back by any Disney versions, they seem to be taking liberty already in my opinion so that's good

    • CorrinePoole

      Yeah but the whole tragic version of the tale wouldn't work with the happily ever after part - how can there be a curse to destroy happy ever after if there was never a happy ever after to begin with?

  • nycitynygirl

    I love all your ideas!! I think it would be really cool if Peter pan and Aladdian were friends! I don't really know how Tarzan would work in the real world but I like the casting for him. How about John smith and poccohantis?

  • dune

    since we're talking about Aladdin.. and Teen Wolf was already mentioned, I'm going to go with young Tyler Posey. That unruly dark hair and lopsided smile, not to mention, he's looks ambiguously ethnic enough to make it work. Tell me you don't see it in this picture: http :// i.imgur. com/ bbqgB.jpg

  • Xenophes

    I wouldn't mind that they take a small story from Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and more Pinnochio (we saw Gepetto - sorry if I misspelled... but not the "real life" boy).
    Otherwise I think the show is doing great although I don't know how they will wrap things up for a potential 2nd season... The curse can only be broken in the end...

  • zeddyp

    I think they should actually do whatever it takes to get Robin Williams to come on the show as the Genie...I mean think about it how high would you jump out of your seat when you see him as a human version of that big blue bastard?

  • Cranky_Old_Batt

    So you want OUAT to turn into a shill for Disney?

    Disney is not classic fairy tales. They did some animations of some but the mermaid, etc.? Seriously?

    If the show went this direction, I would definitely stop watching.

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    • VernonLease

      As long as they don't go all mushy it's ok i guess. I like the show becuase it was a more serious adaptation on fairy tales and the characters. Lets just hope those of us that enjoy the way the show is now that it does not change it's direction as i'm sure that i'm not the only one that's enjoying the way it's being portrayed for now at least.

    • TeaCake911

      What's wrong with dipping into Disney folklore?

      Worked amazingly great for Square-Enix's KINGDOM HEARTS video games, they are consistently the best-selling and highest quality games for pretty much any console.

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    • MollieDonohue

      Yeah sorry to say, but it's already happened... If you want the real classics, watch Grim.

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      • MollieDonohue

        Oh and don't hate on Disney, not all huge corporations are a bad thing, it's made some really great movies (not to mention the good books it publishes as well). I don't get why changing one good story into a different (but also good) story is such a bad thing. Take The Little Mermaid for example: the original fairytale is good but I liked it a lot more when Disney expanded and re-did it..

    • Staff
      LilyRoRoSparks

      I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but since ABC is owned by Disney, a lot of OUAT characters are costumed/named/taken directly from Disney movies. There was Dr. Pongo with a Dalmation last week, Jiminy Cricket's whole umbrella/wish upon a star thing, Maleficent (not the folklore name for Sleeping Beauty's witch) complete with glowing staff and horns (also a Disney invention), Cinderella looked like she walked right off a float from the electric light parade, there's a dwarf named Doc, etc...its relatively harmless cross promotion, and the writers are making the characters their own and creating wholly original takes on classic-folklore characters, like Rumpelstiltskin. So please don't let that influence your enjoyment of the show! Someone's got to pay for great writers- it might as well be Disney! & The Little Mermaid is a classic hans Christian Anderson tale- there's an old victorian sculpture of a little mermaid in Denmark staring out into the sea.moreless

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  • Hollybear491

    Bravo to these ideas! Going for the lesser known route: how about the Pied Piper (a charming coffee house musician), or the brave little tailor (could be an ally for emma)?

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    • thorswitch

      Can the Pied Piper lead Henry out of town for a few (several?) weeks? Have an extended arc where in addition to helping out the other residents of Storybrooke, they have to find clues to where Pied has hidden Henry? And during that time, the adults can learn how to function without him being 2 steps behind them all the time...

      It's frustrating because that kid just ruins the show for me. The first couple of weeks it wasn't so bad because he was there to fill Emma (and us) in on what the deal is, but Emma's convinced enough now that what he's saying is true that she should be able to brush up on various fairy tales so she doesn't need her little Henrypedia around all the time, and Mary Margaret is a children's teacher, so she should know the stories fairly well, too.

      I know it might seem odd to argue realism in a show of this nature, but even in terms of the show's reality, it's unrealistic for Henry to be able to be around ALL the time. His mom, who supposedly knows everything that happens in town can't figure out that even if she tells him to stay home and do his homework that he's gonna run off to be with Emma as soon as the door is closed? Emma thinks that if she tells him to go home, he'll do that and not suddenly pop up in the back seat of her car? Why? He never does what he's told and will ALWAYS find a way to tag along.

      Sorry for the rant, but I love EVERYTHING about this show *except* for the ubiquitousness of the kid.moreless

    • Staff
      LilyRoRoSparks

      Oooh a jazzy jazz man at the old coffee house. Love that.

  • jrgoddess2004

    I LOVE THIS ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • dommie007

    This is amazing. <3 Kristen Bell. The last name thing is very cute.

  • MelissaPollar

    cool i can't wait i am a big fan of the show so far.

  • VernonLease

    Jafar from Aladdin. give the evil witch a run for her money a real power struggle lol.

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  • SaraLarsson1

    I agree with a previous comment about Hansel and Gretel, it's one of my favourite fairy tales and their story is really haunting. Would be great to see them in Once Upon..

  • hell693

    I hope that this actually happens because its awesome

  • xo-AnimeFan-xo

    What about Hansel And Gretel? I'm sure they could find 2 similar looking teens to play the roles. In the real life story they would live with abusing non-loving parents and Emma tries to find them a new home.

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    • Staff
      LilyRoRoSparks

      Fun fact: Taylor Momsen's first acting role was as Gretel! Personally I always imagine Hansel and Gretel as being right around eight years old. But teens would probably be more interesting.

  • dragon22a

    If we are going disney, James Earl Jones reprising Mufasa from Lion King. In the real world he could some wise older guy who has lost his son.

  • chang_1910

    @Lily Sparks .. in case u read this, I felt I needed to let you know... about that story you put for alice in wonderland, that was already "kind of..." written. look into "american mcgee`s alice" is a videogame, the 1st one was amazing, the second is not as dark, imo has more humor that a dark atmosphere (still good though)... and well, the story is a very disturbed girl/teenager....

    ... ps. Ian would look great in that roll, but I want him as my eternal vampire :P

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