Harry Styles Is Not Playing Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid” and No One Is Okay

It’s never a good idea to dwell on what could have been.

Since Disney’s live remake of The Little Mermaid was announced, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding who will star alongside Halle Bailey (Ariel) as Prince Eric. Last month, Collider reported that Harry Styles was in talks for the role, and he seemed like the perfect choice to the internet.

A small beacon of hope had been lit. Nothing had been confirmed though, so everyone was still acting semi-chilled about the rumour.

It would be great but until its official I'll contain my excitement.

— music heals (@Mimms_luck) July 16, 2019

People continued to contain their excitement until earlier this morning, when movie theatre chain Regal Cinemas tweeted a "BREAKING"  announcement, saying, "Harry Styles will play Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid". Cue absolute Twitter meltdown.

But here’s the thing. That tweet has since been deleted, because Harry Styles is not playing Prince Eric. In what can only be assumed to be a terrible, terrible mistake, we have been misinformed. For a moment, we blamed ourselves. How could we believe such a momentous casting decision when Disney hadn’t even confirmed it?

That was when the soul-crushing reports started to emerge.

Harry Styles has passed on the opportunity to play Prince Eric. He will not be heading under the sea, and he won’t be part of the Little Mermaid world. We're not trying to be dramatic or anything, but how could he do this to us? 

Obviously, people are struggling to come to terms with the reality of the situation.

so harry styles isn’t playing prince eric... pic.twitter.com/7AtSKQrxoJ

— francine 🖤 (@philipinhoe) August 14, 2019

Take all the time you need guys.

So, who is playing Prince Eric?

Nothing has been confirmed at this stage, but fans have advocated for Sebastian Stan, Jimin from BTS and Noah Centineo. Hopefully Disney holds off confirming for a while. It’s just too soon.

Header Image: YouTube (One Direction)