It’s been 35 years since Disney released the game-changing The Little Mermaid. Disney Junior’s Ariel, premiering June 27th on Disney Junior and June 28th on Disney+, is a new CG family music series that spotlights the title character’s youth ‘under the sea’. Executive Producer Lynne Southerland and Art Director Chrystin Garland join me for this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Lynne, do you remember the first time you saw The Little Mermaid?

Lynne Southerland: Absolutely. I was working for Disney at the time. My husband leaned over and said, “Isn’t it the coolest thing that you work for a company like this?” In fact, we went where there was a live show at the El Capitan [Theatre]. So there was a live show before they showed the movie and it was just magic. Ariel has always captured an energy of curiosity and a kind of dynamic dreamer aspect. And I can very much relate to that in my own personality. So to be able to then take what I remember from when I saw that movie 35 years ago… here’s a chance to see… “Who was Ariel when she was eight?” How fun.

JM: That’s what you’re able to do with the show. And Chrystin, about this time last year we had the live action Little Mermaid with Halle Bailey, directed by Rob Marshall. As that was being released… how was it working on this?

Chrystin Garland: Oh, man, I was sweating. (laughs) We have such a stellar team. So you just really want to reach that same level of excitement and wonder and really just put your all into this project so it can stand toe to toe with everyone else.

LS: And I think we were probably fortunate in that we had no exposure to the live-action movie as we developed our show — which I think was great because it didn’t put us in a state of comparing ourselves. We were on our own journey.

Lynne Southerland

JM: That’s very cool. And yeah, you show eight year old Ariel before she goes up above to discover what’s happening there. So you have to make some key storytelling decisions like that. Lynne, what were some of the most difficult storytelling decisions?

LS: I really looked at it as a great opportunity to redefine and not go back to something. In that way it’s, “Why do it?” if we’re just sort of repeating ourselves. So this was such a great chance to sort of set out on a new road and carve our own path. I can’t think of any really difficult decisions because even the one that we said we would not go above the surface was a pretty easy one to make. And it allows us to celebrate being underwater and what an opportunity for Chrystin’s team to explore. How do we make this rich environment? It’s reminiscent of what we know as land people, but wait, we’re under the water. What do we do down here that doesn’t feel like we’re duplicating a world up there? So it’s been more like fun challengers, not anything intimidating.

JM: I screened the first couple episodes and really enjoyed them. And one of the things that blew me away, Chrystin, is the architecture. As well as the wardrobe. Kind of them hand in hand. What you do with the shapes is really cool, especially seeing it all underwater.

Chrystin Garland

CG: Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to be brought on this project, this beloved legacy show but given carte blanche to just feel like we’re exploring and we’re creating our own thing. So I really took a lot of inspiration since we are inspired by the Caribbean… I was really looking at the festival costumes and all of these really bright, vibrant colors and fan shapes. And I really just wanted to incorporate the whimsy and energy from all of those huge, vibrant celebrations. Coral underwater, when you hit it with the white light, is so bright and vibrant as well. I wanted to have that same wonder since we’re going to be spending a lot of time here. And then as far as architecture goes, we really took a lot of inspiration from different buildings all over the place. We were looking at Trinidad and Tobago. They have a performing arts center that had these really great scallops. And we were looking at Ghanaian architecture.

Let’s not make it look like a typical castle. Let’s really try something new here, but also make it look underwater and from a different world. So we really got to mesh a lot of things together to make something really interesting and fun. And when we were working with our cultural consultant, they really emphasized how the marketplace is a central hub and showed us all this amazing food that the people eat. Mouthwatering fruits and vegetables. So we really got to have a lot of fun taking that and putting our under the sea twist on it. The marketplace is this vibrant hub where everyone gets to hang out. We really wanted to make that special. It’s a lot of fun using shells as the tops of the buildings and having moss growing on them. We also really like the idea of the mermaids kind of being a little more in touch with nature than humans are. So we really had that integration going, which is a lot of fun.

JM: It’s great to see Sebastian and Flounder with their energetic personalities. Lynne, how important was it having these two characters still by Ariel’s side?

LS: Besides Ariel being iconic, it’s those critical characters like Sebastian and Flounder, but also Triton and Ursula. That’s the original ensemble. We need to keep them. We had to redefine Ursula a little bit to make her appropriate to our audience. Flounder and Sebastian both hold special places. Flounder brings a kind of lovely innocence and both he and Sebastian give us the greatest opportunity for silly cartoony comedy. So we would never want to lose that and we joke all the time that Flounder takes over the show sometimes. It just happens. And Grayson’s voice is so fantastic. It just captures everything you want to convey about the character.

JM: You talk about redefining Ursula and that’s right. That’s one of the surprises for me. Wow! Ursula is a lot kinder — a lot nicer. Chrystin, how did you want to approach this different side of her?

CG: It was so exciting because I love original Ursula, but I also love this iteration because she really reminded me of my own aunties growing up. So it was a lot of fun. We really had a great experience exploring her character design, giving her those nice finger waves in the back and this really iconic wave shape for her front bangs. Whatever setting that she’s in, she’s also a very strong presence. So you really want to make sure that her silhouette is very dynamic and very iconic so that it lives up to that personality.

JM: As was the case with the movies, music is a core component of this show. You have a song in each episode. And Lynne, in the first episode, we have huge life lessons and all about diversity with the song “One Colorful Ocean”. And I think that sets the tone for what families can expect from this show, which is quality and good messaging and strong themes.

LS: Thank you. I couldn’t say it better. (laughs) I love that in discussing that first song with the songwriters, it’s exactly what we wanted to achieve. Here is what this show is going to be. It’s going to celebrate the multicultural world that we are all living in. But in particular, the Caribbean is almost a cauldron of all these different cultures coming together. I always want to emphasize that the sea creatures in the show hold the space of how we’re all different, but we’re all living together. All of the characters don’t need to look like humans, let’s say. Just like Flounder being a fish who is fully realized, we have other characters. One of my favorites is a dolphin named Delfino. And he just captured me from the moment I saw the design. Our world is rich because Ariel and her friends interact with sea creatures as much as with more humanoid characters. That sort of acknowledges the richness of our own land experience.

JM: It’s an excellent ensemble of characters. And this Disney Junior lineup keeps growing. Chrystin, how does it feel for this show for the here and now in 2024 to be a part of this Disney Junior lineup that keeps putting out such good content?

CG: It’s really surreal. I remember being a kid and watching Ariel live and I was just obsessed with her. Me and my friends would swim around the pool and pretend which mermaids we were. So to be able to create a new iteration and introduce her again to a new generation is such an honor in a lot of ways.

JM: What’s the secret… what did you discover about being part of this world?

LS: I would say… digging in and finding the magic within myself to translate that into how we tell our stories and what those stories are. And tapping back into, like Chrystin said, remembering how it was to be four or six or eight. My sister and I used to listen to Mickey Mouse records and we would act out the parts. And now I’m a part of bringing that to another group of kids, another generation. It’s just a gift.

CG: The sea-cret (laughs) …for the design team is really just about being open. The Caribbean has such a vast inspiration and culture and festivities to pull from and be inspired by. And the fact that our entire team was really open to seeing this new iteration, seeing us take chances, has really let us develop something special.

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Jackson Murphy

Jackson Murphy is a movie critic and entertainment columnist. He is the creator of the website Lights-Camera-Jackson.com, and has made numerous appearances on television and radio.

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