Christian Navarro is ready to make history! The 13 Reasons Why star's dream to become a Disney Prince may come true. In August, following the news that Harry Styles turned down the opportunity to play Prince Eric alongside Halle Bailey in the live-action The Little Mermaid – the actor put in his bid for the role. “So I heard Harry Styles passed on Prince Eric, well…I can sing,” he wrote on social media. “Black Ariel/Latino Prince…no ones called but Season 3 drops next week and I think it’s one hell of an audition @disneystudios @melissamccarthy.”
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Christian Navarro announced that he has auditioned for the role of Prince Eric in the live-action The Little Mermaid
Social media worked their magic and the 28-year-old, who plays Tony Padillia on the Netflix series, gave his fans an update almost a month later. “Idk what happened to the other tweet. But! @disney saw this, saw your support, and gave my team a call,” he wrote out to his fans. “They wanted to see what I could do. Tapes sent. Fingers crossed. Let’s make some history. #iloveyou3000 #PrinceEric #TheLittleMermaid.”
MORE: Halle Bailey breaks silence following Ariel casting backlash
Shortly after sharing the news, the Bronx native shared more of his dream. "#LatinX#PrinceEric #TheLittleMermaid Just a brief reminder that there’s always another mountain, another goal to strive after, and with your help I’ll keep pushing the limits. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had a truly multicultural Little Mermaid?! Fingers crossed beautiful people." In July, it was announced that the 19-year-old Grown-ish star would play the title role in the live-action remake of the Disney classic. The decision was met with backlash from fans – which prompted a reaction from Mexican actress Eiza Gonzalez.
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If he gets the role, Christian will play opposite Halle Bailey
Rob Marshall, the film’s director spoke about the studio’s decision to cast the young triple-threat in the film. “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," he told the Hollywood Reporter. Lin-Manuel Miranda is set to produce the film and work with the original composer to rework songs from the original and compose new songs. There is no word on a release date, and so far a Prince, but we look forward to the film and Christian (wink) making history.
