Don’t Expect Flotsam and Jetsam to Appear in ‘The Little Mermaid’ Remake

Last week, we wrote up a piece about everything we know about Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid remake. Two characters left out of the piece were Flotsam and Jetsam, the sinister pair of moray eels that serve as minions to Ursula. Today, we have an update on the characters.

In the latest episode of the Like A Virgin podcast, comedian Matt Rogers appeared as a guest. Throughout the episode, both and the two hosts discussed a variety of topics including Disney and the upcoming live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. It was during this conversation that Rogers mentioned that he had somehow gotten to hear the film’s (and Melissa McCarthy’s) version of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” early. That’s not all.

Despite some minor critiques of the song – and discussion of how someone like Lady Gaga might have done it – Rogers confirmed that he asked his manager reach out to Disney to see if they needed two actors to take up the roles of Flotsam and Jetsam. He wanted to pitch himself and SNL‘s Bowen Yang for the roles.

He said he wanted to play one of the characters so badly that, “It got to the point where our managers actually reached out and asked, and [Disney] told us we’ll Flotsam and Jetsam aren’t in the movie.”

That’s right. Those two sidekicks will not be appearing in the live action version – at least according to Rogers and according to what he says Disney told him.

Now, this might upset some fans of the film, but keep in mind that Disney could have just been lying as a way to subtly reject Rogers’ proposal. Also, the film comes out in literally one year. So anything could change. Nevertheless, we’ll all just have to wait and see the final product for ourselves before we can know the truth.

The Little Mermaid is expected to hit theaters on May 26, 2023. We should expect some first-look images and possibly a teaser during Disney’s D23 Expo, which is set for September 9-11, 2022.

READ: ‘Bridgerton’ Actress Simone Ashley to Appear in ‘The Little Mermaid’

It will feature the original music by Alan Menken (Tangled and 1989’s The Little Mermaid) in addition to four brand new songs co-written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto). The film stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King (A Dog’s Way Home) as Prince Eric, Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) as Ursula, Awkwafina (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) as Scuttle, and Daveed Diggs (Snowpiercer) as Sebastian. Also set to star is Emily Coates, Jude Akuwudike, Noma Dumezweni, Russell Balogh, and Adrian Christopher.

SOURCE: Like A Virgin (Podcast)

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