Dove Cameron is set to take on her purple-tressed character Mal for a brand new adventure in Descendants 2, which is finally make it’s television debut on Friday July 21. We caught up the starlet and she spilled all about what fans can expect to see in this new DCOM, really giving some major insight into her character and how much Mal has changed from the first movie to the second, where she decides to ditch life in Auradon and head back to her rotten roots in the Isle of the Lost.

“Mal was definitely like a street dog in the first one, like she knew how to survive based on a real rough and tumble environment with no guidance, right? You wouldn’t go up and touch a street dog because they’re going to bite you, but it doesn’t mean they’re bad. She was never bad, she had jut learned to survive. In the second one, it’s as if you took that street dog and gave them everything that they needed, they would probably still be a little gun shy and wouldn’t know how to deal with it. That’s exactly what happens,” Dove said to J-14. “She’s given all the love, support and authentic attention, room to grow that every individual deserves, but she doesn’t think she deserves it and she doesn’t know how to process. And I think we can all relate to that, like I relate to that so hard, that sort of like when somebody actually gives you all the love you’ve been looking for your whole life you’re sort of like, ‘the rug is going to come out from underneath me, I don’t trust this.’ So she goes through a lot of incarnations.”

SO INTENSE. Check out our full interview, where Dove dishes ore about how she connects to Mal and what she would do if she had a chance to hang out as herself with Mal for the day:

How cool is it to know Dove really is so strongly connected to her character? She truly pours so much of herself into Mal and despite the fact that Mal is essentially a character out of a fairy tale, everything she experiences is super relatable. And that is all thanks to Dove for bringing her to life in this authentic way, especially when it comes to the heartwarming message she hopes fans take away from Mal after seeing D2.

“That it’s OK to accept love, even if you think you don’t deserve it,” Dove said.

Now that is simply magical.

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