Harry Styles Is The Little Mermaid's Prince Eric

One Direction star will get to "kiss the girl" in Disney's upcoming live-action remake.

by Andrew Pollard
Harry Styles Prince Eric The Little Mermaid
Disney/Cosmopolitan

Ever since Disney announced its plans to develop a live-action take on The Little Mermaid, one of the first questions on fans’ lips was just who would be the one to “kiss the girl”. And now, we have our answer: it’ll be Harry Styles.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Styles has signed on to play Prince Eric in the House of Mouse’s new take on a beloved favourite. It might be easy to disregard Harry Styles as simply that fella from One Direction, but the 25-year-old certainly impressed in Christopher Nolan’s Academy Award-winning Dunkirk.

Since appearing in that 2017 movie, Harry has looked to fully branch out to the world of acting – even auditioning to play Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming biopic of The King. He would ultimately lose out to Austin Butler for that role, but Styles has now successfully nabbed one of the key roles in a Disney offering that so many are hugely looking forward to.

Advertisement

As for Prince Eric’s role in The Little Mermaid, he falls in love with Ariel after she saves him from drowning. So smitten is Ariel with her new beau, she eventually makes a deal with the nefarious Ursula to exchange her magical voice for a set of legs that will allow her to walk on land alongside the apple of her eye.

Advertisement

Harry Styles joins fellow singer-turned-actor Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid, with the Chloe x Halle star having recently landed the part of Ariel. Styles and Bailey may be the only two confirmed names for the picture at this stage, but Melissa McCarthy, Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina are in talks to join the movie.

This live-action spin on The Little Mermaid will follow in the footsteps of the likes of The Jungle Book, Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King in being given a fresh lick of paint for a new generation of moviegoers.

Advertisement

To be directed by Mary Poppins Returns’ Rob Marshall, The Little Mermaid is hoping to start production early next year.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.