The original Ariel is in the "The Little Mermaid" remake! Did you spot the cameo?

Halle Bailey is the new Ariel and currently enchanting audiences of all ages in Disney's live-action adaptation of "The Little Mermaid." Director Rob Marshall also paid homage to the original Ariel by including her in the film.

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For "The Little Mermaid" director Rob Marshall, it was only natural to include the original Ariel voice actress and singer Jodi Benson in his live-action remake. And not just because it brings together two generations of Ariel actresses. Rob Marshall, who began his career on Broadway, and stage actress Benson have known each other for 40 years, having collaborated on musicals together. It was their longstanding friendship that led to Jodi Benson having a cameo appearance in "The Little Mermaid."

"We thought it would be perfect to have her in the film, if we could do it in a way that feels organic and not forced," Marshall explained to Entertainment Weekly. And so, in the new "Little Mermaid," Benson is not seen as a mermaid, which might have had the "forced" effect Marshall alluded to, but rather as a human.

Passing on the Dinglehopper

Jodi Benson plays a resident of the Caribbean kingdom ruled by Prince Eric's mother, Queen Selena (Noma Dumezweni). She is one of the women at the market that the humanized Ariel (Halle Bailey) visits with Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). She hands Ariel a fork when she wants to eat something. But of course, Ariel thinks it's a hairbrush, a dinglehopper, and starts twirling her hair with it.

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Jodi Benson and Halle Bailey

It doesn't feel forced, but skillful! Even though Benson's cameo appearance is small and inconspicuous, and has nothing to do with mermaid tails, something significant happens here: One Ariel passes a dinglehopper, that iconic item from Disney's "Little Mermaid" films, to the other. "It's literally like passing the torch," Marshall said about the scene.

In the animated film "The Little Mermaid" from 1989, Ariel combs her hair with a fork while sitting at the dinner table in Eric's castle, attracting many strange looks, of course. Rob Marshall didn't feel it was right for his remake: Even a mermaid wouldn't start combing her hair during a meal, whether with a fork or a brush. So, the idea of the marketplace was developed - and it seemed perfect to incorporate Jodi Benson's guest appearance there.