All ‘Descendants’ Movies & TV Shows In Order

Descendants sees the VKs—villain kids: Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson), Carlos (Cameron Boyce), and Jay (Booboo Stewart)—try to steal Fairy Godmother’s (Melanie Paxon) wand. In turn, their parents plan to break down the barrier between Auradon, where all the “heroes” of the storybook fairy tales live, so the “villains” can escape the Isle of the Lost. Along the way, they grapple with who they want to be after being told who they should be.

The network pulled familiar talent for the project, like Cameron from Liv and Maddie (2013) who played Maleficent’s daughter, and Boyce from Jessie (2011), who plays Cruella de Vil’s son. It also attracted the star power of Kristin Chenoweth as Maleficent and Kathy Najimy, who previously worked with Ortega in the iconic Hocus Pocus (1993), as the Evil Queen. Chenoweth and Cameron’s “Evil Like Me” musical number is a standout amid a soundtrack full of great musical numbers. The cast’s chemistry is palpable, the characters’ voices are strong, and the romances are endearing. Descendants is a confident start to a franchise that has now spanned more than a decade.

Descendants: Wicked World is both an exciting extension of the franchise and also practically divorced from its canon. It’s an interesting watch as it brings back most of the cast as the main characters, specifically the core four, and follows their everyday lives in animation. Mal continues to struggle with using her powers for good in more of lower-stakes situations than the movies put her (and her friends) in. Then again, the episodes being two to three minutes long doesn’t leave much room for the same depth that the movies can explore.

The franchise’s broad consistency across storytelling styles quickly falls apart, though. Descendants: Wicked World deals with characters, like Freddie Facilier (China Anne McClain), Dr. Facilier’s daughter, who is never seen or heard from again in the franchise. In fact, Anne McClain returns as Uma, Ursula’s daughter, in the live-action Descendants 2 (2017). Moreover, Descendants 3 (2019) introduces Celia (Jadah Marie) as Dr. Facilier’s (Jamal Sims) daughter. So, Descendants: Wicked World is a fun time for super fans of the franchise, but it may leave you with more questions than answers after its two-season run of short episodes. 

I’d walk the plank in the “It’s Goin’ Down” musical number to prove that Descendants 2 is the best movie in the franchise. I still see people doing the “Chillin’ Like a Villain” choreography on TikTok, and this movie came out almost a decade ago. I’d also argue that this movie is the one with the best costumes and, perhaps more importantly, because they can be distracting otherwise, the best wigs. If the first movie established the cast’s chemistry, this movie runs with it, building and creating so many dynamics. New characters—Uma, Hook’s son Harry (Thomas Doherty), and Gaston’s son Gil (Dylan Playfair)—fit in as they’ve always been there. 

They also breathe new life into the Isle as Mal returns amid tensions with her new responsibilities as King Ben’s (Mitchell Hope) girlfriend. That’s particularly important to actualize the pull Mal feels between how she was raised and what’s now expected of her. There are also some great supporting stories in Carlos and Fairy Godmother’s daughter Jane’s (Brenna D’Aminco) budding romance, Mulan’s daughter Lonnie (Dianne Doan) trying to join the all-male Swords and Shields team with Jay’s support, and Evie creating her own business, Evie’s 4 Hearts, with the help of Dopey’s son Doug (Zachary Gibson). Then, by teasing rising tensions between Mal and Uma, Under the Sea: A Descendants Story (2018) uses its 10-minute runtime to bridge Descendants 2’s plot and sets up the final movie in the original trilogy.

Descendants 3 finally concludes the seemingly never-ending feud between Auradon and the Isle of the Lost by finding its villain in Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, Audrey (Sarah Jeffrey). The people of Auradon struggle to see that one of their own could be the villain—she steals Maleficent’s scepter and puts the magical kingdom under a sleeping spell. So, they blame the newly-introduced Hades (Cheyenne Jackson), who Descendants 3 reveals to be Mal’s father. The work that Jackson and Dove Cameron do together in this movie is incredible. 

Whether in the musical number “Do What You Gotta Do” or their final scene when Hades says, “Thanks for a glimpse of the sun,” infuses so much life into a father/daughter dynamic that only one movie in this trilogy explores. It’s also rewarding that Evie finally gets her own solo in “One Kiss,” and I’m sure you’ve heard Audrey’s “Queen of Mean” somewhere on the internet in the last seven years. I also love that Mal, who has finally accepted herself and what she’s meant to do, gets a Disney princess ballad in “My Once Upon a Time.” Descendants 3 is an emotionally satisfying close to the original Ortega-directed trilogy. If you want, you can get one more story with the original cast in the short, Wicked Woods: A Descendants Halloween Story (2019).

Descendants: The Royal Wedding is a tough watch. It’s the first entry to the franchise after the passing of Cameron Boyce. The episode that delivers Mal and Ben’s Happily Ever After also establishes that Boyce’s Carlos has passed away through unconfirmed circumstances. Mal, Evie, and Jay spend time grieving their friend, who can’t be physically present at Mal and Ben’s wedding. There’s a very sweet moment when Carlos’s charm on Mal’s bracelet glows on her wedding day, insinuating that he’s still with his friends in spirit. 

So, while Descendants: The Royal Wedding is meant to be about Mal and Ben’s wedding, it finds its strongest angle in the love story among the core four. It feels like a final love letter to the group of friends that started it all. Of course, as the Descendants franchise always does, its tag also teases what’s next: Wonderland. However, the passing of the baton is more bittersweet than exciting. This episode feels like the closing of one door and the opening of another that will never be able to recapture the magic of that original run.

Descendants: The Rise of Red is the start of a whole new era for the Descendants franchise. This movie brings back some familiar faces—Uma, Auradon Prep’s new headmaster, and Fairy Godmother—while folding Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997) into the franchise’s canon. Cinderella (Brandy Norwood) and King Charming (Paolo Montalban) join the universe alongside their daughter, Chloe (Malia Baker). Meanwhile, the movie mentions Chad (Jedidiah Goodacre) from the previous movies. I’m still holding out hope to see the entire Charming family together in the future. Descendants: The Rise of Red also introduces the Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora) and her daughter, Red (Kylie Cantrall). So, there are more new characters than old ones.

Their storylines unfold at a breakneck speed in the past and present, as Red and Chloe go back in time to prevent the fallout between their mothers as teens. There’s so little time to connect with any of the characters—past or present. Shuffle of Love: A Descendants Short Story (2025) emphasizes that by extending one of the movie’s most memorable music numbers. So, it’s a good thing there’s another movie around the corner because this new era needs time to grow.