Descendants 4 Honored Cameron Boyce With An Emotional Scene
Who else was sobbing when this happened?
Carlos De Vil got the hero’s sendoff he deserved in the newly released Descendants: The Rise of Red. In the first three movies of the Descendants series, Carlos was a main character, the tortured son of 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella De Vil who found a path to redemption alongside his friends. But sadly, actor Cameron Boyce died in 2019, one month before Descendants 3 released that year. Now, Boyce and his beloved character have gotten a touching tribute in the fourth movie.
At the beginning of Descendants: The Rise of Red, which released July 12 on Disney+, Uma (China Anne McClain) takes over Aurodon Prep as the school’s new headmistress. Her first act is to open the school to children from Wonderland, a dangerous land outside Aurodon’s peaceful borders. Uma reveals she was inspired to invited the rogue land’s princess Red to the academy by the kindness of her former adversaries Mal, Ben, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, the bulk of whom are now on journeys to recruit more villains to their cause. However, it’s revealed in Uma’s somber speech that Carlos is now dead.
“I used to hate Mal. I’m sure you heard,” Uma explains to the school’s former headmistress, Fairy Godmother. “But you know what happened? We reconciled. We saw the goodness in each other. When she and Ben finally opened up the Isle, they gave all villains a second chance. It’s time Wonderland got one too.”
When Fairy Godmother expresses apprehension at such a risky invitation, Uma takes a long look at a picture of Carlos hanging in her office.
“It’s what Carlos would have wanted,” she says through tears. “So don’t do it for me; do it in honor of him.”
Boyce died in 2019 of an epileptic seizure in his sleep. Several of his past co-stars paid tribute to him at the time, including his fellow Descendants star Dove Cameron getting a tattoo in his honor.
The Descendants: Ride of Red executive producer Suzanne Todd confirmed that the new movie was always going to include a moment for Boyce, but the exact scene took some time to figure out.
“We always knew that we wanted to pay some kind of tribute,” Todd told TVLine of the scene. “We actually went through a number of different incarnations of what we thought was the best way to do it, because it’s very delicate and very important.”
“We, the filmmakers, had some ideas about what we wanted to do, but we also had a lot of conversations with China Anne and her family about it,” Todd said. “She landed that moment so beautifully. And I have to say that the story point we ended up going with, about inclusion and ending this segregation in Carlos’ name, is so on point for our universe and what we’re trying to promote. The idea that we were attributing that to Carlos’ character felt 100% real and authentic.”
Todd went on to reveal McClain took a keepsake with her from that moment to always remember Boyce. “When we finished the scene that day, China Anne called me to her trailer and asked if she could take the photos of Cameron home with her,” Todd said. “And I, of course, burst into tears. It makes me want to cry even thinking about that moment. And she and I went together to the set and took the photos off the wall, and she got in her car and drove home with them.”
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