The Little Mermaid Casts Jonah Hauer-King As Prince Eric After Harry Styles Rumours

13 November 2019, 12:28

Harry Styles declined the role because he wants to go on tour in 2020
Harry Styles declined the role because he wants to go on tour in 2020. Picture: Getty

Jonah Hauer-King has been announced as Prince Eric for The Little Mermaid live-action remake.

The Little Mermaid’s role of Prince Eric has been cast as Jonah Hauer-King, and is set to star alongside Halle Bailey, who was cast as Ariel in July.

The 24-year-old British actor was up against Cameron Cuffe for the part and managed to secure the job after doing two screen tests, with the most recent being November 9.

The news comes after months of speculation of who would land the role, including Harry Styles who was long-rumoured for the part, even meeting with the director, before revealing it wasn’t meant to be.

Harry Styles' Second Album 'Fine Line' – The Release Date And Everything We Know So Far

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messing about today with @griff_lipson

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However, it seems the film has chosen to go with a relatively unknown actor for the part, with Jonah having starred in smaller, in smaller films and TV shows, most recently in A Dog's Way Home (2019), this is undoubtedly the biggest role the London based actor has landed to date.

Chatting on FaceTime to Roman, Vick and Sonny for Capital Breakfast in an iconic fluffy dressing gown, the One Direction star explained: “I had a meeting with Rob Marshall the director, who is the most wonderful man, he’s great.

“It was just honestly a few things and it just wasn’t… it’s going to be an amazing film.”

News that the 25-year-old was in talks to play the Disney Prince was trending on Twitter as fans were keen to see him back on the big screen.

However, during the same FaceTime call, he announced the big reason behind ‘respectfully declining’ the role is because he’s going on tour in 2020.

After joking about trying to ‘worm his way out’ of revealing the reason why he couldn’t join the cast of The Little Mermaid, he eventually caved and said: “They shoot for so long, and I want to tour next year, maybe, potentially… haven’t announced that yet.”

Fans have been gearing up for Haz’s (hopeful) tour and second album, ‘Fine Line’ after he announced it will drop on December 13.

The first track ‘Lights Up’ was branded a ‘bisexual anthem’ and was accompanied by a steamy video, so fans are (unsurprisingly) counting down the days to see more from the star!

Up until now, they also had no idea Harry was planning on touring, but fans are already keeping their eyes peeled for the dates to be announced!

He won’t be the only pop star on the road next year, as 1D’s Louis Tomlinson has announced a tour, and Niall Horan has dropped his ‘Nice To Meet Ya’ North American tour dates with Lewis Capaldi.

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