Bright, red, fiery hair - it's the ultimate symbol for Disney's protagonist in The Little Mermaid. 

But Chloë Grace Moretz, who is set to play Ariel, says the character won't have her signature locks.

When asked if she'll be dying her mane for the role by Entertainment Tonight, the 18-year-old said, "No, I won't have red hair. We're going over the Hans Christian Andersen novel so I actually have blonde hair."

In the original 1836 novel, in which the 1990 Disney film is based on, Hans Christian Andersen does not specify Ariel's hair colour.

While it is described as “long,” “thick,” and “flowing” at various points in the book, he never mentions it's shade.

But fans haven't taken this news lightly on Twitter, notably fellow redheads...

The new real life adaptation, which has been in development since 2011, is said to be a darker translation of Andersen's original work, which is a far cry from flounder and friends. It is in fact a gory and depressing tale about the self-sacrifice and agony of love.

The script has been penned by Caroline Thompson, the writer behind 1990's Edward Scissorhands. 

Moretz was a firm favourite to play the role of Ariel, having already lead blockbuster films such as Carrie, The Equalizer and Hugo.

Speaking about when she heard she got the role, she said: "I remember when I got the call, I rolled all the windows down in the car with my brother and we both screamed, "We're the mermaid". It was a very exciting moment. It's like [my] childhood."