Zendaya could have been part of Disney Channel Descendants franchise.
Former Vice President of Casting and Talent Relations at children’s network Cornelia Frame revealed that the Euphoria star wanted to be part of the franchise and auditioned multiple times.
“Zendaya has auditioned for many times Descendantsand that was a big problem,” Frame said during an interview on the Magical rewind podcast. “It was a really big problem. She auditioned again and again and really wanted it. Things just didn’t go the way she wanted.”
Frame continued, “Now that I think about it, I think, ‘Would Spider-Man happened at the same time?’ Things happen for a reason, and you often book something else that’s great when you don’t get anything else.”
The former Disney Channel executive said Zendaya “also put so much effort and so much work into it. It’s just one of those things.”
Descendants is a musical fantasy television film that premiered on Disney Channel in 2015. The film centers on the teenage children of classic Disney villains like Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Jafar and Cruella de Vil.
When Descendants premiered in July 2015, Zendaya starred in the Disney Channel series KC Undercoverwhich premiered earlier that year. Zendaya went on to produce two more seasons of the spy comedy.
Descendants became a huge franchise for the network with a sequel premiering in 2017 and a third installment released in 2019. Most recently a spin-off film titled Descendants: The Rise of Red premiered on Disney+.
After her Disney+ days, Zendaya turned to booking Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017, followed by 2019 Spider-Man: Far From Home and 2021 Spider-Man: No way home. Zendaya also starred in the Dune film franchise and most recently starred in the film Luca Guadagnino Challengers.
