Descendants (franchise)

Descendants is an American media franchise centered on a series of Disney Channel musical fantasy movies. The franchise was created by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. The first three movies were directed by Kenny Ortega. The fourth movie was directed by Jennifer Phang. The fifth movie was directed by Kimmy Gatewood.

The Descendants franchise is in a universe that continues the stories of Disney's animated classic films. The main actors in the series are Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Sofia Carson, and Booboo Stewart, and each movie follows the lives of the teenage children of four Disney Villains that live on the Isle of the Lost. They are invited to the kingdom of Auradon by Ben. Ben is the teenage son of Queen Belle and King Beast, the main characters of the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. The first movie premiered as a Disney Channel Original Movie on July 31, 2015. Due to its success, a sequel was produced and premiered across six Disney-owned networks on July 21, 2017. The third film debuted on Disney Channel on August 2, 2019. A spin-off film to the previous three, Descendants: The Rise of Red, starring Kylie Cantrall and Malia Baker, was released on Disney+ on July 12, 2024, which was followed by a sequel, Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, released on July 16, 2026.

The film series has led to the creation of several television series, short films, television specials, novels, and comic books.

Live performances

Disney's Descendants: The Musical

On February 6, 2020, Music Theatre International released a stage adaptation of the movie series. It was written for young performers. The plot is mostly the same as the first movie, but it uses elements from Descendants 2. It also has music from the first three movies and Descendants: Wicked World. It features a book and additional lyrics are written Nick Blaemire, additional music by Madeline Smith. New orchestrations are by Matthew Tishler.