Thomas Doherty and other stars return for Disney’s Descendants 3

British star Thomas Doherty will reprise his role in Disney’s Descendants 3.

The The Lodge star, who portrayed the villainous son of Captain Hook – Harry Hook – in the film, is confirmed to appear in the sequel.

Harry Hook made his first appearance in the franchise in Descendants 2, as the Isle of the Lost-based henchman of Medusa’s daughter Uma (China Anne McClain). His fellow henchman Dill, son of Gaston, will also return for the film, played by Dylan Playfair.

Also returning to the franchise is Sarah Jeffrey, who portrayed Audrey, the daughter of Princess Aurora, in the first film. Her character is the former girlfriend of King Ben (Mitchell Hope). Although she was mentioned in Descendants 2, Audrey did not appear in the film.

Descendants was first released in 2015 and became a massive hit, spawning its first sequel in 2017. It stars Dove Cameron as the calculating Mal, the daughter of Maleficent, as she and her friends are granted access to the land of Auradon, a land of Disney heroes and their children.

The kids plan to disrupt life in Auradon and steal the Fairy Godmother’s magic wand for Maleficent, however they soon realise they are not destined to be as wicked as their parents.

Descendants 3 begins production next month. It will return to Disney Channel in 2019.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Disney stars Booboo Stewart and Thomas Doherty on Descendants 2

The hottest Disney franchise since High School Musical is finally back on our screens this Friday, December 20.

Descendants, the musical drama where the children of Disney’s villains take centre stage, returns this week with a vengeance. When Mal (Dove Cameron) starts to struggle with the perfect life in Auradon with Ben (Mitchell Hope), she seeks the comfort of home. Little does she know that her old nemesis Uma (China Anne McClain) and henchmen Harry Hook (Thomas Doherty) and Gil (Dylan Playfair) have a wicked plan in store.

It’s up to her friends Ben, Evie (Sofia Carson), Jay (Booboo Stewart) and Carlos (Cameron Boyce) to bring Mal home and convince her of the importance of staying true to one’s identity in this touching, all-singing, all-dancing sequel.

We were lucky enough to sit down with the stars of Disney’s Descendants 2, Booboo Stewart and Thomas Doherty, about what’s changed since the first Descendants film, their characters and some crazy new stunts.

Starting off with their characters, Booboo tells us that Jay, the son of Aladdin villain Jafar, has been through a lot of changes since the first film. While he used to follow in Jafar’s lead, Jay’s now evolved into his own person – and a completely different one to his father.

“In the first movie, there’s a lot of similarities. He works for his father. He’s stealing things. He’s a thief, he goes around stealing things.”

On the subject of heartthrob new bad boy Harry Hook, Thomas admits basing the son of Harry Hook on a number of interesting real-life characters.

“[Descendants director Kenny Ortega] wanted Harry to have the swagger of Mick Jagger and the cheekiness of Harry Styles and I had Heath Ledger as the Joker – I kind of added that to the mix.”

Harry is the son of Captain Hook and a friend of Uma, the daughter of Ursula and enemy of Mal from her childhood in the Isle of the Lost. The teenagers who remained on the Isle harbour a lot of resentment towards Mal and her friends.

On the bad blood between Mal’s group and Uma’s, Thomas adds: “I think the difference between our characters is you got off the Isle. I’m still on the Isle of the Lost. I want to get off and have the life these guys have had. So there’s a lot of frustration and anger towards the injustice of it all. That’s my own journey.”

It’s a journey that resonates throughout the new film. Uma is driven by the anger she feels about the select few kids allowed to live in Auradon. She lives and works at her mother’s fish and chip shop, where the musical number “What’s My Name?” is set. The video, which was released in June this year on YouTube, has accumulated nearly 80 million hits.

The song was the first time Thomas has ever rapped, though he jokingly describes it as a “piece of cake”.

“I’d never done it before. If anything, I had to get over the wall of embarrassment.”

It’s not the only new skill Thomas and the other actors have had to acquire. The new Descendants film is bigger and better than ever before, featuring a huge extended fight sequence aboard a pirate ship where all the characters engage in sword fighting.

There’s one stunt he wasn’t particularly keen on, however. In the midst of the action-packed battle scene, Harry is forced to jump overboard.

“I jumped into the water from the crane,” says Thomas, “It was so scary. Everything was so heavy that I just went right back under.”

He and Booboo laugh. Thomas jokes: “Near death experience.”

Watch our full Descendants 2 coverage here:

WATCH: China Anne McClain and Thomas Doherty star in new Descendants 2 music video

A new music video from the upcoming Descendants 2 has been released online.

China Anne McClain and Thomas Doherty, who are new to the Descendants film franchise and play the daughter of Ursula and the son of Captain Hook respectively, feature in the new video, titled ‘What’s My Name?’.

Their characters, Uma and Harry, will serve as antagonists to the Descendants hero Mal (Dove Cameron), the daughter of Malificent.

In the first hit film, Mal and her friends Evie (Sofia Carson), Carlows (Cameron Boyce) and Jay (Booboo Stewart) were invited to attend school in the homeland of Disney heroes, Auradon, after it was decided children ought not to suffer from the mistakes of their parents. However, the second-generation villains were more than willing to use the experience as a way to help out their exiled parents.

‘What’s My Name’ is the second music video release from Descendants 2, after the release of ‘Ways To Be Wicked’ in April. It is one of six original songs to feature on the film’s soundtrack, which will also include reworked versions of The Little Mermaid‘s ‘Kiss the Girl’ and ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’, starring McClain.

Speaking about the new tune, Disney Music and Soundtracks VP Steven Vincent said: “China Anne has such natural talent and a very soulful voice. In this song, she brings it all and adds the perfect amount of attitude to the performance – she’s a great actress who knows how to put character into her singing.”

WATCH: Disney drops Descendants 2 trailer and first music video

The first trailer and music video for Disney’s Descendants 2 have dropped.

The film follows on with the adventures of Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson), Carlos (Cameron Boyce) and Jay (Booboo Stewart) – the children of some of Disney’s most infamous villains – after the success of the first film in 2015.

After the pressure of being perfect in Auradon becomes too much for Mal, she and her friends return home. When Mal discovers that her self-appointed position as the Queen of her former home the Isle of the Lost has been usurped by archenemy Uma (China Anne McClain), she returns to her rotten roots to reclaim it.

In the new trailer, we see Mal struggling with life in Auradon before Evie suggests returning home. Once back in the Isle of the Lost with a new haircut, Mal sets her sights on regaining her rightful place – with just a bit of song and dance in the meantime.

Disney has also released a new music video for one of the film’s musical numbers, titled ‘Ways to be Wicked’, following the success of ‘Rotten To The Core’. In the music video, Mal, Evie, Carlos and Jay cause chaos in Auradon.

Descendants 2 will introduce Mal’s archenemy Uma, the daughter of Ursula, and her cronies: Captain Hook’s son Harry (Thomas Doherty) and Gaston’s son Gil (Dylan Playfair).