Quick Answer
Teagan Croft plays Rapunzel, Milo Manheim plays Flynn Rider and Kathryn Hahn plays Mother Gothel in Disney's live-action Tangled. Diego Luna has also joined the film in a new role.
Michael Gracey is directing from a screenplay by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Michael Montemayor, with Kristin Burr and Michael De Luca producing.
Disney showed the first footage at its D23 fan event on August 14, 2026 and announced a theatrical release date of March 31, 2028. The film is shooting in Spain.
The First Look Shown at D23
The clip screened at the Honda Center in Anaheim opened on Rapunzel's blonde hair spilling down a set of medieval stone stairs before the camera revealed Croft in costume.
It then cut to Hahn as Mother Gothel, stepping out from a shadowed alleyway and calling Rapunzel's name, a beat that drew a loud reaction from the room.
Hahn appeared on stage afterwards and thanked fans, who had campaigned loudly for her casting online. She described Gothel as the best kind of villain, the kind who thinks she is the hero, and joked that the character is only a little overprotective.
Who Is Playing Who
| Role | 2010 animated film | Live-action film |
|---|---|---|
| Rapunzel | Mandy Moore (voice) | Teagan Croft |
| Flynn Rider | Zachary Levi (voice) | Milo Manheim |
| Mother Gothel | Donna Murphy (voice) | Kathryn Hahn |
| Additional role | Not applicable | Diego Luna, in a role new to this version |
| Director | Nathan Greno and Byron Howard | Michael Gracey |
| Release | November 24, 2010 | March 31, 2028 |
Croft is an Australian actress best known for playing Raven in the DC series Titans, and was cast earlier in 2026 as the film's lead.
Manheim comes from Disney's Zombies franchise, which means the production has a lead with real song and dance experience for a role that has to carry both comedy and musical numbers.
Hahn arrived with a wave of fan support after her run as Agatha Harkness, and Gothel is a natural fit for the register she does best, charm layered over something colder.
The Creative Team
Michael Gracey directed The Greatest Showman and the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man, so his track record is squarely in big musical spectacle rather than in fairy tale realism.
The screenplay comes from Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Michael Montemayor, with Kristin Burr and Michael De Luca producing and Erik Wilson credited as cinematographer.
Like the original, the film is being built as a musical, which matters for anyone worried that live-action remakes tend to flatten the songs into background.
Filming in Spain
Production is underway in Spain, and Croft and Manheim recorded a message from set in costume that played during the D23 presentation.
Spain gives the production real medieval streets, stonework and coastline rather than a soundstage version of the kingdom of Corona, which suits a story built around a walled kingdom, a harbour and a lantern festival.
Practical locations also solve a specific problem for this story. Rapunzel spends much of the film outdoors, barefoot, dragging an enormous amount of hair through markets, forests and cobbled streets.
The Hair Problem
Rapunzel's hair was a technical headache even in animation, where a team had to build dedicated simulation tools to make roughly seventy feet of it behave.
Live-action makes it harder, not easier. Real hair extensions of that length are heavy, catch on everything, and cannot be lit or moved the way a drawing can.
The realistic answer is a hybrid: practical hair for anything an actor physically interacts with, digital hair for the sweeping shots, and careful blocking so the two match. How well that seam is hidden will shape a lot of the early reaction.
What About the Songs
The 2010 film's score by Alan Menken with lyrics by Glenn Slater carried the story, and the lantern duet in particular is the sequence most people picture when they think of Tangled.
Disney has not released a full music breakdown for the live-action version, so anything about which songs return in what form is speculation until the studio confirms it.
What is confirmed is that the film has significant musical elements and a director whose reputation rests on staging exactly that kind of number.
How This Fits Disney's Live-Action Run
Disney has spent more than a decade converting animated titles into live-action features, with results that swing widely between reverent and hollow. Tangled arrives with a specific advantage and a specific risk.
The advantage is that the 2010 film is recent enough to have a modern structure. Its story beats, comedy and pacing already look like a contemporary film, so there is far less to modernise than with a 1950s title.
The risk is exactly the same fact. Audiences remember the original clearly, the songs are still in rotation, and any change will be measured against a version people can rewatch that evening.
What the Story Has to Get Right
Tangled works because Gothel is not a cackling villain. She controls Rapunzel through affection, guilt and flattery, and the horror only lands if the warmth is convincing first.
That is a live-action performance challenge more than a visual effects one, and it is the clearest reason Hahn's casting drew the reaction it did. Her range sits precisely in that space between funny and unsettling.
The second requirement is Flynn Rider's tone. He has to be arrogant enough to be funny and likeable enough that the turn works, without tipping into smugness.
What We Still Do Not Know
- Whether Maximus and Pascal are photoreal creatures, stylised, or handled some other way.
- Which songs return, whether any new ones are written, and who is credited on new material.
- Diego Luna's role, which Disney has described only as new to this version.
- How long the film runs and whether the story expands beyond the original's tight structure.
- Whether the lantern sequence is staged practically, digitally, or as a mix of both.
Treat anything beyond the confirmed cast, director, writers, Spain shoot and March 31, 2028 date as rumour until Disney says otherwise.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does live-action Tangled come out?
Disney announced a theatrical release date of March 31, 2028.
Who plays Rapunzel?
Teagan Croft, the Australian actress known for playing Raven in Titans.
Who plays Mother Gothel?
Kathryn Hahn, who was revealed in the D23 first look and appeared on stage at the event.
Where is it being filmed?
In Spain, with production already underway as of the August 2026 D23 presentation.
Is it a musical?
Yes. Like the animated original, the live-action film is being made with major musical elements, directed by Michael Gracey.
Bottom Line
The cast is set, the footage exists, and the release date is locked for March 31, 2028. Croft, Manheim and Hahn lead a Spain based shoot under Michael Gracey.
The open questions are the ones a first look cannot answer: how the songs are handled, and whether seventy feet of hair can be made to look effortless in a live-action frame.
