Disney’s “Aquamarine” sequel series is tapping into early 2000s nostalgia in bringing back Jake McDorman to executive produce and reprise his role as lifeguard heartthrob Raymond.
The sequel series has also found its half-mermaid lead in Kenzi Richardson. She will star as Coral, the daughter of Aquamarine and Raymond. The former lifeguard now raises Coral as a single dad. It is unclear where Aquamarine is in the sequel 20 years later.
Emma Roberts, who starred in the 2006 film, will executive produce and guest star as her original character Claire Brown in the series. The series has also found a new group of series regulars adding Briella Guiza, Theodore Dalton and Annika Reese to the Disney series.
Disney+ ordered a pilot for the sequel series in June. “The Bold Type” creator Sarah Watson will write the pilot and will serve as an executive producer alongside Susan Cartsonis, who served as a producer for “Aquamarine.” “Aquamarine” director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum is attached to return as director and EP.
The official logline for the pilot is as follows: “When teenaged Coral moves to a dreamy seaside town, she begins unraveling the truth behind her mother’s disappearance—and discovers her mother was a mermaid, awakening magical powers in Coral just as secrets beneath the waves threaten to surface.”
In the reboot, Raymond is struggling to navigate Coral’s “growing independence while still mourning the loss of Aquamarine.” Richardson will play Coral, the thoughtful and artistic teenager who discovers she is half mermaid and must navigate adolescence, identity, and “the absence of the mother she never knew.”
Guiza stars as Mia, Coral’s edgy and fiercely authentic best friend, who challenges Coral’s desire to fit in. She has previously appeared in “The Rookie,” “Criminal Minds” and “Station 19.”
Reese plays Paige, a queen bee of the beach club, but the release states she’s “not your typical mean girl.” Dalton joins as August, a charming surfer, whose emotional depth draws Coral in.
