There have been plenty of Peter Pan-inspired movies over the years, but it took over a century for Yara Shahidi to become the first Black Tinker Bell in Disney's Peter Pan & Wendy, and she's well aware of what that means.
The Harvard-educated star of Black-ish and Grown-ish says she jumped at the chance to play Pan's fairy sidekick in Peter Pan & Wendy on Disney+, because she knew she could have an "impact" on younger generations.
"The casting was one part of a very intentional shift in what this remake was doing," Shahidi told Narcity during a recent interview. "That made it feel like we have the chance to do something impactful while not losing the whimsy and the joy of the original fairy tale."
Peter Pan & Wendy is a remake of Disney's 1953 Peter Pan animated film, although it focuses more on Wendy as she prepares for the switch from childhood to adulthood.
The flick also updates several elements from the 1953 film, including giving Captain Hook (Jude Law) a tighter connection to Peter and making Tiger Lily (Alyssa Wapanatâhk) more complex and powerful in her role.
"The changes that were made didn't just start and stop with casting people that look different from the original characters," Shahidi told Narcity. "It was really just one small part of trying to figure out how to make a story more honest, more authentic and resonant with all of today's kids."
Wapanatâhk says she's already seen how the movie can affect younger generations because her daughter, who is 4 years old, can't get enough of Tiger Lily in the movie.
"She's obsessed with it already," Wapanatâhk told Narcity in a separate interview. "She talks about it every single day."
In Shahidi's case, she hopes to continue inspiring young children of colour with her Tinker Bell Barbie doll.
The 23-year-old has been showing off her Tinker Barbie on social media recently, but it's actually not her first one. She modelled for another Barbie a few years ago as part of a voter turnout campaign, and that doll has been re-released multiple times in the years since.
"That was so surreal when they sent me the picture of the Barbie," she said. "My favourite sentence that's been said this year was 'Yara, we used your last Barbie as a reference for this Barbie.' And I was like, that is not something I ever thought I'd hear."
She added that the whole Peter Pan & Wendy experience was unique because unlike the rest of the cast, she did all of her work alone on a sound stage. Her Tinker Bell was added through special effects, so she simply had to work off of props and imagine giant version of her co-stars during the shoot.
"I ended up leaning into the process and enjoying the fact that you had to surrender to how silly it would seem," she said. "You do whatever you need to do to make Tinker Bell Tinker Bell, even if that means you're prancing around a garage set looking so silly."
Peter Pan & Wendy stars Alexander Molony (Peter), Ever Anderson (Wendy), Jude Law (Captain Hook), Alyssa Wapanatâhk (Tiger Lily) and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell.
You can watch Peter Pan & Wendy right now on Disney+.
Yara Shahidi Says Playing The First Black Tinker Bell In 'Peter Pan & Wendy' Is About 'Impact'
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