China Anne McClain Says ‘Descendants: The Rise Of Red’ “Would’ve Meant A Lot” To Cameron Boyce

deadline.com:

Descendants: The Rise of Red star China Anne McClain reflected on her friend and former co-star, the late Cameron Boyce, saying the Disney actor would have been “really excited” about the film franchise’s trajectory. “I think that he would’ve been really excited to see it and to see how [the movie] turned out because, to be honest, none of us knew how anyone was going to receive [the 2015 original],” McClain told People in a new interview.

The actress, who reprises her role as Uma (now as principal of Auradon Prep), said the making of the fourth installment — released earlier this summer on Disney+ and marking the first film to not feature Boyce — reminded her of shooting the first Descendants. “[The new cast in The Rise of Red] were so excited and they’re so young.

All of them are so young that I looked at them, and I was reminded of when I stepped on set to do Descendants the first time,” she said.

McClain said her and Boyce’s similar background as child Disney stars (A.N.T. Farm and Jessie, respectively) would have brought forth a feeling of pride, given that the story continued with a young ensemble. “And also how I’m sure Cameron felt — because we both were in the Disney system before we stepped into Descendants, and we’ve known each other since we were children — so I think that it would’ve meant a lot to him to see the baton passed on,” she concluded.