Meet Disney’s Newest (+ First Latina!) Princess
Elsa and Anna have had their day, but now there’s a new Disney princess coming to town. May we introduce you to, Princess Elena, Disney’s FIRST Latina princess!
According to People, the story goes a little bit like this: Decades before Sophia’s time, Princess Elena was imprisoned in an amulet (which Sophia now owns) by an evil sorceress. Sophia discovers the truth about her piece of enchanted jewelry and sets out to restore Elena to her human form and help her return to her fairytale kingdom of Avalor, which is meant to be rich with Latin culture and folklore. After her introduction on Sofia, 16-year-old Elena is set to star in her own spin-off series titled, Elena of Avalor, also set to premiere on Disney Junior in 2016.
Hello Gigglesreports that the show will tell stories, “influenced by culture and traditions that are familiar to the world-wide population of Hispanic and Latino families and reflect the interests and aspirations of all children as told through a classic fairy tale.” They are also set to have a couple of pretty impressive cultural advisors offering insight into the show, so we’re guessing things should remain relatively accurate.
As far as the gal who is slated to be the voice behind this ground-breaking character, well that titles goes to Dominican Republic-born, Aimee Carrero of ABC Family’s Young & Hungry.
While it would be awesome to see Elena make it up on the big screen, we’re seeing a definite advantage to including more diversity to a channel that has so many young viewers of all different backgrounds. And considering Disney producers are describing her as a “bold, caring, funny and clever ascendant to the throne in the fairytale kingdom of Avalor,” it looks like 2016 might be bringing on a new role model of epic proportions.
