It looks like The Little Mermaid is staying under the sea after all. ABC has nixed plans for the live TV version of the beloved Disney classic that was set to air on October 3. While no cast had been announced so far, it doesn't seem anyone will get the chance to give Ariel her voice, at least not this year.

"We are postponing the Little Mermaid Live special. We love the idea of doing a live musical and want to make it wonderful. The project is so unique that we are making best efforts to do it next year and want to give it all the attention it deserves," an ABC spokesperson said in a statement.

ariel the little mermaid

Apparently, sets were already built for the show and the network had already invested a ton of time and money into the show with rehearsals said to get going soon, so this is even more of a bummer. While ABC would like to aim for a 2018 release, it seems like this show might not ever get done and we're feeling very much like when Ursula snatched up poor Ariel's voice. Smh. Fans were hoping the recent musical queen Dove Cameron would take on the role, something she has expressed interest in — and you know, she's done a few of these by now from Hairspray Live!, Mamma Mia!, and her role in the Descendants movies, so she's a musical pro.

dove cameron ariel tweet

While it's a total bummer this won't be coming to our television screens, there is still some hope to possibly see Dove as the beloved Disney Princess after all, since her tweet brings up the live-action movie Disney has in the works. At the D23 expo, legendary composer Alan Menken, who created all of the songs from the 1989 animated fave, is working with the one and only Lin Manuel Miranda on new songs for this new film too. That is nothing but exciting, although we are super curious as to how exactly they're going to make a live-action version since a big part of the movie does take place under water in the legit ocean. But we have faith it will all work out swimmingly in the end. We might not see this story on stage anytime soon, but this movie will be something to look forward to.

Plus, AMC movie theatres is bringing back some of the best Disney Princess movies too. That's right, starting on Sept. 15, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, and Brave will be shown in theaters again over the course of a week, with Brave being the final one to shown on Oct. 19. So if you want to relive the glory days and head to the movies to watch these animated gems up on the big screen to get your Princess fix, be our guest.

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