Look, things change all the time. Directors, producers, Disney – anyone involved in the 2020 live-action remake of Mulan could raise an army and defeat the huns people responsible for work-shopping the idea Captain Li Shang will be absolutely kapoot in the remake.
It’s obviously caused a riot. The moment the first snippets of the casting calls were released onto the internet, people were shook. Where is Shang, where is our mysterious dark side of the moooooon man?
But this was back in 2017 so just when the thought of no Shang was a faraway nightmare at the back of our minds, a tweet has rocketed it back to the front lines with thousands finally coming to the realisation that no Shang could really be a possibility.
Why? Just look.
Mates, Chen Honghui sounds like a knob.
“Full of himself, with a mean, bullying streak to him… he quickly realises that Mulan is his chief rival, but he does not realise that she is a woman. Grittily determined to be simply the best at everything, Honghui is increasingly peeved by Mulan’s ability to match or out-maneuver him. But after learning that his rival is a woman, his intense feelings of rivalry turn into something very different, something like love.”
How is that better than this.
Like honestly.
Chen Honghui has yet to be officially cast so you know, anything could happen.
But in regards to his character, it is an entirely new spin and eliminates the mentor/teacher Shang’s role played. So, what about that? Could Shang still play a part?
NOPE.
Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Rogue One etc.) has officially been cast as Commander Tung. This dude’s a completely new character and will be Mulan’s mentor and teacher.
I love, love, love Donnie Yen but…
A lot of fans on twitter felt the same way.
Without Li Shang, who’s going to make sure they’re as swift as a coursing river
With all the force of a great typhoon
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of THE MOOOOOOOOOON https://t.co/6nvgQhmaXG— BethElderkin@Mastodon.Social (@BethElderkin) April 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/nrsyhnssysff/status/985909357345832966
Same.
https://twitter.com/XIA0GGUI/status/986568155207118848
But some people have hope.
Y’know… I’m still gonna wait on my assumptions about Mulan. If they’re doing casting calls and stuff, it means they’re still in the early days of it all. Remember with coco? There was a lot of people who assumed it was ripping off Book of Life and it did have some issues
— 🔥⏳Icarus Solaire⌛🔥 (@icarus_solaire) April 18, 2018
But the majority of replies are not so positive.
https://twitter.com/nerdyasians/status/985901721678303233
https://twitter.com/nrsyhnssysff/status/985908344098455554
It seems like they’re changing the genre. Perhaps they are trying to emulate Pirates of the Caribbean. While I do admit that Mulan has the potential to be more gritty and violent because of the war aspect, it’s the original Disney Mulan that I know and love.
— Gwen (@pucatbanana) April 16, 2018
He has always stood out to me among the Disney men because he had honor, he was a great leader, and (even rarer) he was humble, and admitted when he was wrong. Who is THIS dude now that’s supposed to take his place?
— Miss Anthropy (@grandmaitsme00) April 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/ThHesitantAlien/status/985919521281146881
Disney saw us all appreciating Li Shang as an unofficial but obviously bisexual character and they were like, “nope, can’t have that, erase the whole character and restart as hetero as possible”
— SAANVI (@Saanvizzy) April 16, 2018
But again, it is incredibly early days – anything and I mean anything could change. I have hope. Li Shang could still appear and make a man out of all of us.
Mulan is set for release March 27, 2020 so seriously, anything could happen.
Otherwise we all know’s going to happen to Disney.
