Cheetah Girls: Next Gen Greenlit, Raven-Symoné Returns
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- Disney greenlit The Cheetah Girls: Next Gen for Disney Channel and Disney+, with production set to begin in South Africa this month.
- Raven-Symoné and Adrienne Bailon return as Galleria and Chanel, the original Cheetah Girls they first played in the 2003 film.
- Leah Sava' Jeffries, of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is cast as Galleria's daughter Faith, joined by new performers Carmen Sanchez, Kaileen Chang, and Sophie Lennon as the next-gen quartet.
- South African newcomer Kamogelo Ramashala, discovered through Disney's global open casting call, rounds out the new cast as Kendi.
- Debra Martin Chase — who executive produced the first three Cheetah Girls films — returns to executive produce alongside Raven-Symoné, with Bille Woodruff directing and a script by Kara Holden, Sarah Watson, and Deborah Swisher.
- The story follows Galleria, Chanel, Faith, and her three friends traveling to Africa to volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary before ultimately taking the stage as the new Cheetah Girls.
Why it matters: The Cheetah Girls franchise was a ratings juggernaut for Disney — the original 2003 film and 2006 sequel were the top-rated cable/ broadcast movies of their years among Kids 6-11, Tweens 9-14, and Girls 6-11. Bringing back OGs Raven-Symoné and Bailon alongside a locally discovered South African lead positions the streamer to recapture that multigenerational audience while expanding its pipeline for international talent.
