Actress Rachel Zegler, star of the upcoming West Side Story, has been cast as Snow White in Disney’s live-action remake

Disney just announced that Snow White is getting the live-action treatment and the starring role is going to breakout newbie Rachel Zegler, a Latinx actress and star of the forthcoming West Side Story remake. Cheers all around to this iconic queen on her new role and absolutely no cheers for the racist trolls, who are still stuck on the “but her skin is white as snow” bullshit.

Production is expected to start in 2022 with The Amazing Spider-Man‘s Marc Webb set to direct. He sang Zegler’s praises in a press release, saying her “extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts…Her strength, intelligence, and optimism will become an integral part of rediscovering the joy in this classic Disney fairytale.”

Snow White now joins other live-action remakes of Disney classics like Mulan, Maleficent, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Aladdin, and Dumbo. Also cool? Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the duo behind La La Land and The Greatest Showman will write new songs for the movie, so expect new Snow White hits alongside your faves from the original animated feature.

Zegler’s big breakout role is starring as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming reboot of West Side Story, which is set to hit theaters this December. Deadline sources say that Disney had been auditioning actresses for Snow White for months, but it was early footage of Zegler in West Side Story that blew studio execs away and made it clear that they had to cast her.

The young actress celebrated the announcement by uploading some pics of her with a Snow White character at Disneyland.

🙂 pic.twitter.com/ThvIVBBOdP

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) June 22, 2021

Unfortunately, the same racists who decried Halle Bailey’s casting in the live-action Little Mermaid came forward with gross and racist tweets about a Latinx woman like Zegler playing Snow White, and ugh. I had no idea so many dudebros were so obsessed with Snow White.

Then how are you going to be called Snow White? Not trying to be mean, seriously asking….she was called Snow White because of her skin tone. What’s the explanation here? https://t.co/QLjwCnHYFb

— MasteroftheTDS (@MasteroftheTDS) June 22, 2021

The character was named Snow White because her skin was as white as snow. pic.twitter.com/hcR08vYap9

— RAMZPAUL (@ramzpaul) June 22, 2021

The poor girl literally had to tweet that she is “not bleaching my skin for the role,” and it’s sad it had to be said, whether she was joking or not.

yes i am snow white no i am not bleaching my skin for the role

— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) June 22, 2021

Hopefully, the critics are just a vocal minority because a whole lotta people think Disney’s quest towards more inclusive casting is awesome. Starting with Halle Bailey’s casting as Ariel in the upcoming live-action Little Mermaid and Yara Shahidi’s casting as Tinkerbell in Peter Pan & Wendy, Disney push to cast the most talented actress for the role is great and neccessary, regardless of what the character’s race was depicted as in the original cartoon of the same name.

i believe in halle bailey and rachel zegler supremacy pic.twitter.com/n6wFIDAzqQ

— priscila (@kyloreyss) June 22, 2021

rachel zegler in vogue but make it snow white 💛 pic.twitter.com/dbPU4sJUxR

— jime | RACHEL DISNEY PRINCESS (@bwayjime) June 22, 2021

Congratulations to Zegler, we cannot wait for this movie!