Disney has revealed details about its new live-action Aladdin remake for the first time – and Jasmine looks set to be the feminist hero we always wanted.

Actress Naomi Scott, whose mother is Indian and father is British, has also said that “having a Disney princess that looked like me… was really powerful”. 

“Jasmine’s main objective at the beginning is to really protect her people and to do right by them. She definitely isn’t a finished article at the beginning of the movie, but she has this beautiful arc and progression, and she goes from asking for what she wants to just taking it, and displaying that she is a leader,” she told Entertainment Weekly about the role. 

Though Jasmine has often been considered a feminist princess in her own right, the new film will make her a “more rounded character still”, director Guy Ritchie says. 

Scott has previously talked about the feminist DNA of the character in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, saying that her Jasmine “can be strong and have fun, but also get it wrong and be emotional”. 

“She’s a multidimensional woman, and she doesn’t have to just be one thing. So in this movie, you see her go on such a roller coaster, as opposed to her one goal being to fall in love or get married.”

“Jasmine is so resilient and independent in this version, she’s focused on things other than which boy she’s going to end up with,” Pedrad says. “She really wants to be a leader, and Dalia really supports that but at the same time wants to make sure she doesn’t get in trouble.”

Pictures from the set also seem to show Scott dressed in blue – a traditional colour for Disney princesses. 

 Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, explained earlier this year that blues give the princesses “power”:  “It’s a very subtle way of saying, ‘Yeah, but young women, young girls, can be empowered, too.’”

Meanwhile, actor Will Smith has gone to great lengths to ensure worried fans that his version of the Genie will, in fact, be blue. 

Fans were taken aback when the character appeared to be fully human – but Smith took to Instagram to reassure those who felt the character was straying too far from the original.

“Yes, I’m gonna be BLUE! :-),” he wrote. “This is how the Genie is in Human / Disguise Form. My character will be CGI most of the movie.”

Blue or not, we can’t wait. 

Images: Disney