Written by: Alpana

Published: January 8, 2026, 9:54 am

The whole studio is behind the Tangled franchise, and the announcement from Walt Disney Pictures yesterday that Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim have been cast as Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in the live-action adaptation of Tangled is just the icing on the cake.

The project, which has survived a tumultuous development process that has included long periods of dormancy and a reshuffling of the workforce, is now being advertised as the cornerstone of Disney’s theatrical lineup for the late 2020s. Directed by Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) and written by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge), the film will be an adaptation of the 2010 animated classic to a “high-stakes musical event” exclusively for theatrical release. 

The selection of Croft and Manheim comes after an extensive international search and a number of intense screen tests held in London in the month of December 2025. This represents a clear and marked shift in the direction of casting actors who have solid musical theatre credentials and meaningful experience in the genre. 

As Disney contends with the post-pandemic box office environment and the complicated legacy of its prior live-action remakes, the Tangled film comes not only as a nostalgic gambit, but a shrewd bid to attract the rising Gen-Z and millennial audiences who consider the original movie a key cultural touchstone. 

Disney’s Strategic Reset: Why Tangled Became a Studio Priority

The path of the live-action Tangled is impossible to trace without placing it in the context of the financial situation for Walt Disney Studios as a whole. Entering late 2024 and into 2025, the studio was introspective, after a string of financial disappointments on key titles, most especially the live-action Snow White. Industry analysts noted a waning in public interest in remakes of early 20th century classics, which fueled speculation that projects such as Tangled had been put on hold indefinitely as to prevent any further risk. 

But the tides turned with the live-action Lilo and Stitch theatrical debut in May-2025. With a worldwide gross of over $1 billion, Lilo and Stitch demonstrated that remakes of “modern classics” (films originally released during the Disney Renaissance in the 2000s) had their own draw. This success restored corporate trust in the Tangled brand.

With a theatrical-only release, Disney is making clear that Tangled is to be a major cinematic event for the brand, rather than a direct-to-streaming filler. This strategy mirrors that of the upcoming Moana live action, set for release in July 2026, and maximum theatrical revenue before coming to Disney+. 

Disney’s Live-Action Track Record

Film Title	Release Date	Original Animated Gross	Key Strategic Driver
Snow White	March/2025	$418M (Adj.)	Re-evaluating early classics after underperformance.
Lilo and Stitch	May/2025	$273M	The $1B success that revived the remake pipeline.
Moana	July 10, 2026	$643M	Leveraging modern IP and star power.
Tangled	Prod. June 2026	$592.5M	Targeting Gen-Z nostalgia and musical theater fans.

Casting the Crown Jewels: Finding Rapunzel and Flynn

The hunt for Rapunzel and Flynn Rider was all-consuming and ended in chemistry tests in London just before the holiday season of 2025. In contrast to earlier casting calls which were geared towards attracting A-list celebrity names to serve as marketing anchors, the Tangled production team was looking for vocal performers who could capture the emotional complexity of the characters and who had the vocal endurance to perform Alan Menken’s -folk-rock score. 

Teagan Croft as Rapunzel

Teagan Croft is a young Australian actress of 21 years old, who was chosen from a multitude of finalists. Her previous work as Rachel Roth (Raven) on the DC show Titans was key to her casting. To play Raven, Croft had to grapple with isolation and secret empowerment—narrative beats that, surprisingly, mirror those Rapunzel undergoes as a prisoner of Mother Gothel.

Additionally, Croft’s turn in Netflix’s True Spirit showcased her ability to head a family-friendly survival film. From the very beginning, Rapunzel isn’t a typical princess with “Tangled”: she’s a bohemian dreamer and inquisitive teenager who’s been living as an insanely long tag-along to Mother Gothel for eighteen years. Croft’s talent for encompassing “wonder, grit, and curiosity” all at once made her the obvious choice. 

Milo Manheim’s Flynn Rider

According to THR, the casting of Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider (aka Eugene Fitzherbert) is celebrated in the Disney fandom. Manheim is a “Disney-native” talent, with seven years leading the Zombies franchise. From this, he gained an insight into the mechanics of the musical storytelling of the studio like no other.

Aside from his Disney Channel background, Manheim has made a name for himself as a powerhouse stage actor, most recently starring in Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway. The role of Flynn Rider is notoriously difficult to nail down—it’s a very specific type of arrogance you have to convey paired with sincerity– the “smolder” has to be hilarious but the eventual vulnerability has to be real. Manheim’s previous Dancing with the Stars tenure further guarantees he has the nimble body necessary for swashbuckling action sequences. 

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Michael Gracey’s High-Stakes Musical Vision

Michael Gracey’s selection as director suggests a certain aesthetic for the film. Gracey, known for The Greatest Showman, is known for fusing modern musical tastes with the traditional theater spectacle. This one-size-fits-all template is especially curious when applied to Tangled, whose Alan Menken original score was a “folk-rock” departure from Broadway norms.

The director’s approach to films tend to focus on a “heightened reality.” For Tangled, this probably means that the Kingdom of Corona will be realized in tangible settings, rather than relying on the sterile “blue-screen” method. Backing Gracey is screenwriter Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, whose keen dialogue in Do Revenge indicates that the live-action script will keep the animated film’s sharp, current humor. 

The High-Pressure Search for Mother Gothel

While the leads have been disclosed, the Mother Gothel part is still very much up for grabs. Early reports suggested that Scarlett Johansson was attached, but she departed the project due to schedule conflicts. So there’s a gap to fill now, for the heart and soul of the film. 

Fans have made their support for Donna Murphy – the original voice actress, to come back to the role heard far and wide, and others have brought up Kathryn Hahn as a potential replacement for charismatic, manipulative roles. 

Conclusion

Production is scheduled to start in June 2026, indicating an arrival just for the big screen in late 2027 or 2028. The schedule provides ample time for the complex post-production work needed for the tricky physics of Rapunzel’s hair along with the environmental VFX.

The signing of Teagan Croft and Milo Manheim is more than just a headline, it is the first step in a massive multi-year plan to revive the Kingdom of Corona. The world awaits the lantern launch, and for the first time in years, the “dream” of a viable live action Rapunzel transition seems attainable. 

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Written by: Alpana

Published: October 13, 2025, 9:42 am

Peacemaker Season 2 Episode 8 Full Nelson brought a rare achievement in genre TV, it provided a gratifying emotional payoff for the central characters that also ended with an apocalyptic, brink- of- war cliffhanger with ramifications for the entire DC Universe. This narrative paradox is exactly the reason why star Jennifer Holland, who plays Emilia Harcourt, referred to everything as “heartbreaking in retrospect”. Her appraisal captures the uneasy duality of James Gunn’s filmmaking in which real emotional breakthroughs are all too often punished by the brutal requirements of survival and franchise restructuring. 

The Emotional Fallout: The Complex Bond Between Harcourt and Peacemaker

While the final episode was more focused on “smaller, character moments” that were designed to provide emotional closure, it also featured critical, major revelations that shaped the DCU. The perceived heartbreak is because Holland’s character, Emilia Harcourt, and her team, the “11th Street Kids” believe Chris Smith/Peacemaker (John Cena) gave himself up to A.R.G.U.S.. Holland later spoke about the emotional torment of this scenario, in particular discussing the “heartbreak of none of them knowing that Chris was kidnapped”. 

The resulting effect is one of supreme narrative irony. The season expertly resolved the emotional complexity between Chris and Harcourt. Harcourt, who is defined by her trauma and fear of intimacy, actually exposed herself. But the external story cruelly supplants that hard won trust with the heavy gravity of perceived abandonment. The team manages to bail Chris out of prison, only to learn he’s already gone. They are to surmise that Chris went and left them immediately after their connecting on such an emotional level. This isn’t the grief of mourning a death, but the pain of a betrayal, maximizing the tragic payoff, and ensuring that Harcourt’s future arc will be driven by this unexpurgated pain and misunderstanding. 

A Heartbroken & Devastating Ending of Season 1

The near-fatal shooting Harcourt suffered in the Season 1 finale (during the battle with the Butterflies at Coverdale Ranch) left the character deeply scarred both physically and mentally, setting up her complicated return in Season 2. “The Harcourt and Peacemaker tension is very personal trauma,” Holland explained. After her near-death experience, Harcourt came back, according to Holland, “not operating the way she” was, still pushing people away as a mental defense mechanism. The whole of season 2 was about gradually tearing those walls down to nothing, so the final banishment is a particularly vitriolic reward for her emotional journey. 

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The Truth Behind the “Night on the Boat” Flashback Explained

Now, in a flashback sequence, the storyline finally gave us the truth about the hinted-at “night on the boat,” which served as crucial motivation behind their secretive relationship. The sequence allowed Chris and Harcourt, as DC Comics rivals, to commiserate over professional frustrations at the DC Comics sandwich shop Big Belly Burger, and together they stumble upon a bizarre 90s rock trivia question: a “rock cruise” with the band Nelson. Two enjoyed what was called a “magical, world-shattering, panoramic kiss.” This was, without a doubt, a “pivotal turning point” for their relationship. 

James Gunn’s Vision: How the Finale Sets Up the New DCU Chapter One

The finale’s structure was ultimately defined by the necessity of setting up DCU Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. Regarding a potential third season, Gunn was clear it was not planned “at the moment,” stating: “This is about the wider DCU and other stories this will play out right now.” 

Gunn said the Season 2 finale specifically aims to “set up the world of the 2027 DCU cinematic feature, Man of Tomorrow“. As DC Studios co-CEO, Gunn said his focus is “propping up and maintaining and repositioning the big diamond properties that DC has,” like Batman and Superman, but also taking lesser-known characters such as Peacemaker — and creating new “diamond properties” within the franchise. 

Will There Be a Peacemaker Season 3?

This demand was why the final episode felt like an “extended teaser” or “backdoor pilot for other DCU projects,” as some critics observed. The narrative goal of the end of Season 2 was assimilation, not resolution. Tying up the Salvation cliffhanger in a third season of the TV show may have conflicted with or undermined the timeline set out in the slate of movie. When they left Chris to perish, his rescue, and what that would mean for him, had to happen in a big DCU event, and that meant the TV series prologue to the films. Although Gunn is still tight-lipped on whether Peacemaker will make an appearance in Man of Tomorrow or Supergirl, he has dropped a hint that Chris Smith’s next outing in the cinematic universe is a safe bet. 

Conclusion

Jennifer Holland’s characterization of the Peacemaker Season 2 finale as “heartbreaking in retrospect” is a wonderful encapsulation of the narrative needs the series is forced to cater to with the wider franchise restructuring. The heartbreak is not just the breach of physical separation between Peacemaker and Harcourt but that their emotional walls are torn down only for the new connection to be severed by perceived betrayal. While Peacemaker Season 3 is on hold, the characters’ narratives—now driven by Harcourt’s grief and resolve—are officially at the center of the upcoming cinematic universe.