The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning and Samuel E. Wright reprise their roles as Ariel and Sebastian respectively, while Sally Field voices the film's new villain, Marina Del Rey, and Jim Cummings replaces Kenneth Mars as King Triton, as Mars had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was unable to reprise the role. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on August 26, 2008. The film contradicts certain events of the television series, implying that it is an independent installment of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" franchise. King Triton and his wife, Queen Athena, rule over the underwater kingdom of Atlantica, filled with music
Ursula (The Little Mermaid) Disney's strongest villain in decades. Meanwhile, Carroll's performance has garnered similar acclaim to the point that the role has eclipsed her previous body of work, ultimately becoming virtually synonymous with the character. At the behest of Disney executives Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, director and screenwriter Ron Clements was among several filmmakers instructed to research new story ideas that could potentially be adapted into the studio's next major animated film release. Clements first discovered Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" at a local bookstore, and began deliberating why Disney had never attempted to adapt the story before.