Daveed Diggs: It's Important Kids 'Of All Ethnicities' See Halle Bailey in 'Little Mermaid' (Exclusive)

"This is the only person who should be playing this role," the Hamilton actor told PEOPLE at the movie's world premiere on Monday night

Daveed Diggs truly thinks it's "incredible" that Halle Bailey is playing Ariel in The Little Mermaid.

The actor, best known for his role in the hip-hop musical Hamilton, chatted with PEOPLE about Bailey's casting at the movie's world premiere in Los Angeles on Monday evening.

"I think it's incredible," said Diggs, 41. "Obviously, it's important for Black and Brown kids and for kids of all ethnicities to get to look up on the screen and feel like the story is theirs, too. I'm so thrilled about that."

Diggs, who plays the beloved character Sebastian in the film, continued, "I'm also thrilled that it is Halle, of anybody. She's wonderful."

"This is the only person who should be playing this role," he added.

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Related: Everything to Know About Disney's Live-Action The Little Mermaid

Bailey recently talked about the experience of making the long-awaited movie, and why the role of Ariel is so important to her, in a May cover story for Ebony.

For the actress and Chloe x Halle singer, 23, playing Ariel meant staying authentic to herself — and her hair.

"There was a time when we'd barely see locs — and now we have a Disney Princess with them, which has never happened before," she told Ebony. "It was super important for me to have my natural hair in this film. I was really grateful to [director] Rob Marshall, because he wanted to keep my locs. It's always important to have somebody to cosign."

"I've had my locs since I was 5, so they're a huge part of who I am," Bailey went on. "We need to be able to see ourselves, we need to be able to see our hair on big screens like this, so that we know that it's beautiful and more than acceptable."

When asked whether a Black Ariel was something she would have liked to see as a child, Bailey answered in the affirmative.

"What I love about today [is that it's normalized]," she said. "Somebody told me the other day, '[This generation of kids are] not even going to know the first version [of The Little Mermaid]. Their version of Ariel is you.' "

Fans got an early look at an iconic scene from the upcoming Little Mermaid film earlier this week. As part of the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards broadcast on Sunday, Disney debuted an exclusive clip of "Kiss the Girl," sung primarily by Diggs as Sebastian.

The footage plays the final few lines of the song as Ariel and Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) lean in for a kiss while being serenaded by Sebastian and other animals — before they are thwarted by Ursula's (Melissa McCarthy) henchman eels and thrown overboard into the lagoon.

Fans on Twitter went crazy over the scene, known for its romantic aesthetic as Ariel and Eric float along surrounded by majestic wildlife, lush greenery, blue waters and twinkling lights.

Related: Halle Bailey Meets Young Little Mermaid Fan Who "Hugged Me So Tight" at Disney World

While the lyrics sung in the MTV-exclusive clip reflect those of the version from the original 1989 animated film, some of the lyrics in "Kiss the Girl" will be updated with the times.

Composer Alan Menken — who wrote the music for the original Little Mermaid movie — said he and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda modified some of the song's lyrics for the live-action film because of their negative messaging, according to an interview with Vanity Fair published March 31.

"There are some lyric changes in 'Kiss the Girl' because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel]," revealed Menken, 73.

He added of the villain's signature song, "We have some revisions in 'Poor Unfortunate Souls' regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn't speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice."

The Little Mermaid swims into theaters May 26.

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