Zendaya 'auditioned many times' for Disney TV movie Descendants

Zendaya "auditioned many times" for the Disney Channel TV movie Descendants.

Cornelia Frame, former Vice President of Casting and Talent Relations at the children's channel, revealed on the Magical Rewind podcast that the Spider-Man: No Way Home star auditioned "over and over" for the 2015 TV movie.

"Zendaya did audition many times for Descendants, and that was a big deal," Frame said. "It was a really big deal. She auditioned over and over and really wanted it. It just ended up not going her way."

She continued, "Now that I think about it, I'm like, 'Would Spider-Man have happened right at that same time?' Things happen for a reason, and you do often book this other thing that's amazing when you don't get something else."

The former executive added that the Challengers star "put so much effort and so much work into it, too. It's just one of those things".

The musical fantasy film starred Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Sofia Carson and Booboo Stewart as the teenage children of classic Disney villains like Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, the Evil Queen and Jafar.

At the time, Zendaya was already within the Disney family thanks to the TV show Shake It Up, which ran from 2010 to 2013, and K.C. Undercover, which aired between 2015 and 2018.

She launched her movie career in 2017 with Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman and is now one of the most in-demand stars of her generation.

Meanwhile, Descendants spawned two sequels, a movie spin-off and various TV shorts and specials.