With the news breaking that Colman Domingo and playwright Robert O’Hara are co-writing an untitled live-action Princess Tiana project for Disney, the fan-casting internet has predictably gone into overdrive. Names are flying around timelines, and the current consensus seems to lean heavily toward Coco Jones.
Let me be clear off the top: zero shade to Coco. She is wildly talented, gorgeous, and deserves every flower coming her way. We never pit our Black little sisters against each other over here. However, when I think about who needs to put on Tiana’s green gown and take us back down to the bayou, my mind lands somewhere else entirely.
It’s time we stop leaving the theater girlies out of the conversation. If we’re talking about who actually has the total package required for this specific story—and where Disney is taking Tiana’s legacy next—my top pick is Grammy and Tony nominated artist, actor and songwriter, Hailey F. Kilgore.
Telling the Story RIGHT: Black New Orleans Culture
Unlike many other Disney fairy tales where race is incidental, race is deeply embedded in Tiana’s narrative. It’s not just a general celebration of New Orleans culture—though all of NOLA can and should celebrate it—it is a love letter to Black New Orleans.
Having had the honor of sitting in conversations with the Chase family in 2024—the living legacy of Chef Leah Chase, who inspired Tiana in the first place—I know just how paramount it is to get this story right. The reverence, the history, the culinary mastery, and the community resilience are the heart of who Tiana is. With Colman Domingo attached to write, it feels like Disney understands that gravity.
Bridging the Animated Classic to the Bayou Adventure Lore
If Disney intends to create a narrative bridge between the 2009 animated film and the new lore established in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Park, the story will naturally evolve.
In the attraction‘s timeline, set in 1927, Tiana has grown her vision beyond Tiana’s Palace by founding Tiana’s Foods—an employee-owned co-op built inside an old salt mine. A live-action project exploring this next chapter means addressing real historical realities of the late 1920s: food access, community empowerment, and the vital need for Tiana to open a co-op that nourishes her neighborhood.
This also brings up some compelling narrative wonderings. Since this film intends to function as an extension or sequel to her original journey, we likely won’t be seeing Dr. Facilier (or a few other original characters) return, just as he was absent from the ride’s story. That opens the door for a whole new batch of characters for us to know, love, and invest in—and it requires a lead who can anchor a fresh, expansive world.
Don’t Forget the Theater Pedigree
For the past few years, most audiences have come to know Hailey as the young, tough-as-nails Jukebox in Power Book III: Raising Kanan. She plays that gritty 1990s Queens teenager so brilliantly that people seem to have forgotten her theatrical roots.
Allow me to gently refresh everyone’s memory: Hailey is a Broadway powerhouse.
I first came to watch her career when she was just a teenager, originating the role of Ti Moune in the 2017 Broadway revival of Once on This Island—a performance that earned her a Tony nomination at just 18 years old. Long before she stepped into TV roles like 9-1-1: Nashville, she was doing workshops for Hadestown and releasing her own musical projects.
When you create a New Orleans-set musical that demands range, jazz inflections, and pure vocal storytelling, precision isn’t optional. Hailey’s vocals are elite.
Around the 1:20 mark in the video above, you’ll also see my second choice for the role of Tiana, Loren Lott. She has also thrown her own hat in the ring for the role, including after the recent announcement.
Much like Hailey, she has both the background and ability to rise to the occasion. After all, she understudied the role of Ti Moune in that very same production of Once on This Island.
Proven Period-Piece Chops
A film set in 1920s or early 1930s New Orleans is a full-blown period piece, defined by distinct posture, dialect, and rhythm. Hailey has already proven she moves through historical eras with effortless authenticity—from her turn as Carolyn Franklin in the Aretha biopic Respect to her years in Raising Kanan.
Visually, she has a classic, radiant Disney princess look, carrying a warmth and quiet charm into every single frame, even when playing a character in the middle of chaos.
What makes Hailey as Tiana so poetic, though, is a connection that feels almost scripted by the universe. In Raising Kanan, Hailey plays the younger version of Jukebox—a role originated in the flagship Power series by none other than Anika Noni Rose. Anika, of course, is the original voice and soul of Princess Tiana. How incredible would it be to watch Hailey share this legacy with Anika, too? To go from stepping into Anika’s shoes in a gritty crime drama to inheriting her iconic Disney crown on the big screen? It’s a full-circle passing of the torch that feels destined.
It’s time to put some respect back on the theater girlies. Let’s give Hailey Kilgore her crown and magnolias.
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