Descendants is an American media franchise centered on a series of Disney Channel and Disney+ musical fantasy films directed by Kenny Ortega and Jennifer Phang, and created by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott.
The franchise takes place in a world that serves as a continuation after the Disney Animated Classics series, while being a separate universe and follows the lives of the teenage children of four Disney Villains on the Isle of the Lost, and their move to Auradon at the request of the teenage son of Queen Belle and King Beast. The first film was released in July 2015. Following its success, two sequels were released in the following four years, along with television shorts, novels, and soundtracks. A fourth film released in 2024, exclusively to Disney+, with a fifth film in development.
Films[]
Descendants (2015)[]
In the United States of Auradon, Belle and Beast rule as king and queen, twenty years after they married, united the settings of many Disney animated films, and banished all villains to the Isle of the Lost, a slum surrounded by a magic-suppressing barrier. Beast plans to abdicate in favor of his and Belle's son, Ben, who announces a program to invite four children from the Isle of the Lost to live in Auradon, away from the influence of their villainous parents: Carlos, son of Cruella De Vil; Jay, son of Jafar; Evie, daughter of The Evil Queen; and their gang's leader Mal, daughter of Maleficent. Maleficent orders them to steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand and deactivate the barrier, so Maleficent can conquer Auradon. But the four find themselves fitting in and enjoying a normal childhood, and Mal begins a relationship with Ben, supplanting Audrey, daughter of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. When the barrier is inadvertently dispelled, Maleficent attacks Ben's coronation and transforms into a dragon. With Ben encouraging her to make her own choice, Mal decides to be good. She and her friends rebuke Maleficent, turning her into a small lizard, from which state she can recover if she fills her heart with love. The people of Auradon celebrate.
Descendants 2 (2017)[]
Mal struggles with her new celebrity life as King Ben's girlfriend, secretly using magic to maintain a lifestyle she feels is a façade. Mal decides she does not belong in Auradon; she returns to the Isle, where gang leadership has fallen to her old rival, pirate captain Uma (Ursula's daughter), and her first and second mates, respectively, Harry (Captain Hook's son) and Gil (Gaston's son). Evie, Jay, and Carlos agree to help Ben find her, but Mal rejects Ben, believing it best for him and Auradon. Uma captures Ben and demands the Fairy Godmother's wand in exchange for his life. Uma resents not being chosen to live in Auradon; Ben respects her as a leader and invites her to Auradon, but she vows to make her own way there instead. Using a 3D-printed decoy wand, Mal's group rescues Ben. At the shipboard Royal Cotillion, Uma appears as Ben's date and he announces he will destroy the barrier; Mal realizes Uma has cast a spell on Ben. When Mal discovers Ben commissioned a portrait that depicts her as she was before she changed herself with magic, she accepts the emotion of love and kisses Ben, breaking the spell. Uma and Mal battle, transforming into an octopus and a dragon, respectively. Ben tries to negotiate with Uma, but she leaves, unreconciled. Evie asks to bring more children from the Isle to Auradon and Ben agrees.
Descendants 3 (2019)[]
In the film, Ben proposes to Mal, making her the future queen of Auradon. However, threats from Uma, Mal's father Hades and Ben's ex-girlfriend Audrey has Mal trying to stop evil once and for all. While Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are recruiting a new generation of villain kids, Hades is trying to breach through the barrier, then Audrey steals the crown and the scepter and becomes the evil version of herself. The VKs return to the Isle of the Lost on a mission to retrieve Hades' ember and later, Uma, Harry, and Gil teams up with Mal and the others to stop Audrey from destroying Auradon.
Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024)[]
In this newest installment in the mega-hit "Descendants" franchise, former Villain Kid Uma, now headmaster of Auradon Prep, extends an invite to the school to another VK – Red, the rebellious daughter of the tyrannical Queen of Hearts from Wonderland. The Queen of Hearts has long held a grudge against Auradon, and especially against Cinderella, and seizes the opportunity to seek revenge when she drops her daughter off at school. When the Queen of Hearts incites a coup against Auradon, Red must team up with Cinderella's perfectionist daughter Chloe Charming and travel back in time using a magical pocketwatch to try to undo the traumatic event that set Red's mother down her villainous course.
Descendants: Wicked Wonderland (2026)[]
A sequel to Descendants: The Rise of Red was announced to be in development along with the fourth installment. It is reportedly set to be released on Disney+ in 2026. The film will begin filming in January, 2025, in Vancouver, where the original trilogy was filmed. It will conclude filming prior to the Descendants x Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour.
When Wonderland plays host to the Kingdom Cup Games, Red and Chloe Charming must fight to save everyone from an unexpected villain foreshadowed in Wickedly Sweet: A Descendants Short Story.
Television[]
School of Secrets[]
Before the film's premiere, a live action mini series leading up to the event was released on Disney Channel. Every day leading up to the release of the film, a new episode of Descendants: School of Secrets would be released revealing more secrets about the students at Auradon Prep. Each episode of the series is under two minutes long, with twenty-three episodes in total.
Descendants: Wicked World[]
Right after the first film, a CGI-animated spinoff short series entitled Descendants: Wicked World was released on September 18, 2015. Former Phineas and Ferb storyboard artist Aliki Theofilopoulos Grafft directed the series, with Jenni Cook as producer, and included the original cast reprising their roles along with new characters.
The Planning of the Royal Wedding[]
An animated short prequel premiered on November 6, 2020 enlighten of the upcoming television special, Descendants: The Royal Wedding. The series followed Mal and Evie as they prepared for the royal wedding with Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson reprising their roles.
Descendants: The Royal Wedding[]
An animated special that aired on August 13, 2021. This was the first Descendants project to be announced after Boyce's death, and as such, it was reported that the absence of Carlos would be addressed.
Tour[]
During Disney D23 in 2024, it was announced that the Descendants cast would go on tour with the Zombies (franchise) cast for the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour in Summer 2025.
Books[]
Descendants novels[]
The Descendants Novels are a series of books based on the Descendants franchise, written by Melissa de la Cruz. The first book, The Isle of the Lost, was released on May 5, 2015, which served as a prequel to the first Descendants movie. Since 2015, there have been four novels:
- The Isle of the Lost - May 5, 2015
- Return to the Isle of the Lost - May 24, 2016
- Rise of the Isle of the Lost - May 23, 2017
- Escape from the Isle of the Lost - June 4, 2019
- Beyond the Isle of the Lost - May 7, 2024
Trivia[]
- This is the first Disney Channel Original Movie franchise to extend to five movies, as all the other DCOM franchises before Descendants, mainly the Halloweentown franchise, only had up to four movies.
External links[]
Descendants (franchise) on Wikipedia
Descendants (franchise) on Facebook
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Descendants (franchise) on Instagram
