Zendaya has come such a long way over the past few years that it’s almost hard to remember that, at one point, she was a tween TV star tween dancing in a mall. But she was.
In 2015, Zendaya was still the queen of Disney Channel after finishing up Shake It Up and starring in multiple Disney original films. But there was one franchise in the works that she really wanted but never got, and that might have changed the trajectory of her whole career.
On an episode of the Magical Rewind podcast with Will Friedle and Sabrina Bryan, Disney Channel’s former Vice President of Casting and Talent Relations Cornelia Frame, revealed that Zendaya auditioned “many times” for a role in Descendants, the popular franchise focused on the children of various Disney villains.
“Zendaya did audition many times for Descendants, and that was a big deal,” Frame revealed. “It was a really big deal. She auditioned over and over and really wanted it. It just ended up not going her way. Now that I think about it, I’m like, ‘Would Spider-Man have happened right at that same time?’” She added.
The first Descendants film premiered on Disney Channel in July 2015, just months after Zendaya starred in the first season of her spy comedy K.C. Undercover. The movie became a massive smash for Disney, which led to several sequels. This would have been a great time for Zendaya to stick to her Disney Channel roots, but it didn’t work out for her. Frame explained, “Things happen for a reason, and you do often book this other thing that’s amazing when you don’t get something else. Zendaya definitely put so much effort and so much work into it, too. It’s just one of those things.”
The good news? Just months later, Zendaya scored the role of MJ in Spider-Man: Homecoming which helped bring her to international fame and kick-start her movie career. Though now that Spidey is Disney property, technically, she still is a Disney Princess… just a bit removed.
