Twitter Is Going Nuts Over the Live

in Disney, Entertainment

Credit: Disney

In the wake of the success of the live-action adaptation of Disney's The Little Mermaid, Disney fans are turning their attentions to the next live-action movie on the list: The upcoming adaptation of 1998's Hercules.

Twitter was set abuzz tonight as Disnerds across the platform engaged in a widespread discussion of who might play some of the lead roles in the tale, including the Muses, Megara, Phil, and, of course, Hercules.

Disney struck a deal with producers Joe and Anthony Russo in 2019 to make a live-action adaptation of the musical, and they tapped live-action Aladdin director Guy Ritchie to head the project. It has also since been announced that this adaptation will be an experimental, "modern musical" and will draw from some of the same concepts used on TikTok.

Other rumors have been scant, but that's not stopping fans from speculating about the cast – especially the five fabulous muses, who do most of the vocal heavy-lifting in the musical.

The potential to put together one of the most showstopping group of Black female vocalists in history is in Disney's hands, and people have a lot of opinions about who should be included.

One user, @StanAretha, casts Amber Riley as Thalia, Anika Noni Rose as Clio, Jennifer Hudson as Calliope, Kelly Rowland as Melpomene, and Janelle Monae as Terpischore.

Related: Titans and TikTok: ‘Hercules’ Remake Gets a Weird Concept

This tweet contained a lot of the most popular choices for these roles, especially Jennifer Hudson and Janelle Monae, who were mentioned multiple times on several lists. Most lists did specifically cast Hudson as Calliope – the group's lead – as well.

However, one of the most popular picks for Thalia was missing from that list: gifted singer and flautist Lizzo was easily the most requested singer for that role, in fact, user @BruhGoutokuji asserted that "she is the ONLY woman who can play her."

Related: Disneyland Guest Steals the Show With Gender-Bent ‘Hercules’ Costume

Once you’ve imagined it, it is pretty hard to picture anybody else playing the most outspoken and unapolagetic of the Muses. Who doesn't want to hear Lizzo utter the line, "Honey, I think you mean HUNK-ules!"?

One other extremely popular choice for one of the muses was Keke Palmer, originally of the Nickelodeon sitcom True Jackson, VP, and much more recently star of the Jordan Peele horror blockbuster Nope.

Beyoncé was also a name that was thrown around a lot.

(Ariana DeBose wasn't a particularly popular mention, but she is on our list, so we’re throwing her in undemocratically here.)

Of course, as popular a subject as the Muses were, there were plenty of other casting thoughts floating about.

The most popular casting rumor by far, however, was one for Megara, and it sent the star's name trending across Twitter. According to @WhatsTrending:

Liz Gillies trends as Disney fans BEG for her to be cast as Meg after the President of Walt Disney Studios confirms a live action "Hercules" is currently "in development."

Related: "Skinny" Hercules Actor Speaks Out, Marvel Gave Only Two Weeks to Train For ‘Thor’

Liz Gillies was by far the Twitter population's number one pick for the role of Meg, the stunning femme fatale in Hades’ employ who falls for Hercules. Other popular contenders for this part included her Victorious co-star, Ariana Grande, Halle Bailey's sister and singing partner Chloe Bailey, and Bridgerton‘s Simone Ashley (who was also recently featured as Ariel's sister Indira in The Little Mermaid.)

Still, if you’re going to imagine one of those three singing, "If there's a prize for rotten judgement…" and you also grew up watching Jade make terrible choices (and sing about them perfectly) on Victorious, then picturing her in meg's trademark lilac toga is a no-brainer.

Casting for Hercules himself was also discussed. Zane Phillips of Fire Island was a popular choice, as was Will Poulter, most recently of James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

Twitter user @Coleasquid suggested that "Jared Keeso is the only living human with the correct Jaw-to-Neck ratio to play Hercules."

Related: The Haunted Mansion Reference in ‘Hercules’ You May Have Missed

Whether that's true or not, of course, is for the casting directors to determine.

One other choice for Hercules that proved incredibly controversial, despite how widespread a choice it seemed to be, was Dwayne Johnson. The most notable issue with this casting is that Hercules is meant to be in his early 20s at the oldest, and Johnson is 51 years old.

Similar issues were pointed out to fans who cast Idris Elba; both of these men would be better suited to play Zeus.

Across the board, however, there was one opinion that remained almost entirely constant: They had better bring Danny DeVito back to play Phil.

Who do you think should be cast in the live-action Hercules movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments.