Yara Shahidi Stars In New ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ Teaser, Talks Historic Role On ‘GMA’

The forthcoming Peter Pan & Wendy film has released a new teaser starring Yara Shahidi as Tinkerbell.

In the latest clip (above), Shahidi blows fairy dust onto Wendy, which allows her to float as she sleeps. Tinkerbell is then captured by Wendy’s brothers before Peter Pan appears and explains that the tiny creature is not a “bug” but a “fairy.”

More from VIBE.com

• Questlove To Direct Live-Action Adaptation Of Disney's 'The Aristocats'

• Disney Shares First Look Of Brandy As Cinderella In 'Descendants: The Rise of Red'

• Yara Shahidi Talks Representation, Playing Tinker Bell In Disney's 'Peter Pan & Wendy'

Shahidi stopped by ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday (April 24) to talk about what she’s learned while playing Zoey on black-ish, how Josephine Baker helped influence her portrayal of Tinkerbell, and playing the first Black Tinkerbell in a Disney movie.

“It’s really surreal and full circle because I started in print ads and commercials, and some of the first things I did were Disney ads,” she told GMA. “I would dress up as the princesses and different characters, but I was always the Black version of a character because none of them looked like me. So, to be a part of not only this movie but really a movement of so many fairytales being retold to look like our world is really exciting because those are the first stories we hear growing up.”

The David Lowery-directed film, set to release in theaters on Saturday (April 29), is based on the 1953 Disney animated classic Peter Pan derived from J.M. Barrie’s novel.

According to its synopsis, the 2023 film “introduces Wendy Darling (Ever Gabo Anderson), a young girl afraid to leave her childhood home behind and meets Peter Pan (Alexander Maloney), a boy who refuses to grow up. Wendy then meets Tinkerbell (Shahidi) and goes on an adventure to Neverland with Peter and her brothers.”

The film also stars Jude Law from Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Joshua Pickering of A Discovery of Witches, Jacobi Jupe, Molly Parker from House of Cards, Alan Tudyk from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Jim Gaffigan of The Jim Gaffigan Show. The movie is also produced by Jim Whitaker, Adam Borba (A Wrinkle in Time), Thomas M. Hammel (Thor: Ragnarok), and Toby Halbrooks.

“What’s been beautiful is seeing the response to both of our characters and seeing how many people feel included in this fairy tale, while also maintaining the magic that we love in the first place,” Shahidi told The Hollywood Reporter when discussing the controversy surrounding her role in the movie.

She added, “I think oftentimes people think of diversity and inclusion as threatening or jeopardizing the quality of the story, instead of seeing how beautifully they can be interwoven together to create something that impacts even more people, that lets even more people into stories that we love.”

Watch the official trailer for Peter Pan & Wendy below.

Click here to read the full article.