How Descendants: The Rise of Red honors Cameron Boyce with emotional tribute

Warning: This article contains spoilers from Descendants: The Rise of Red.

Cameron Boyce is gone, but he's definitely not forgotten in the Descendants universe, both on and off the screen.

The original Descendants star played the Villain Kid character Carlos, the son of Cruella de Vil, in the first three movie musicals about the children of popular Disney villains. The actor died five years ago at 20 from a seizure caused by his epilepsy, and the latest installment in the franchise (the first since his death) honors him in an emotional onscreen tribute.

Descendants: The Rise of Red (streaming now on Disney+) kickstarts the next chapter in the franchise, introducing a whole new roster of V.K.'s and other students at Auradon Prep like Red (Kylie Cantrall), the rebellious daughter of the ruthless Queen of Hearts (Rita Ora), and Chloe (Malia Baker), the perfectionist daughter of Cinderella and the now-King Charming (played by Brandy and Paolo Montalban, reprising their roles from Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella). 

One of the few returning faces from the previous movies is Uma (China Anne McClain), the daughter of Ursula (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg), but the former V.K. is now the principal of Auradon Prep. She's dedicated to running the school with an inclusive attitude, opening it up to "all the kingdoms," including the formerly imprisoned Wonderland. Her inspiration is revealed to be none other than the memory of Boyce's character, Carlos, as Uma has a framed photo of him on the wall in her headmaster's office.

While it's not explicitly stated, the implication is that Carlos is no longer alive,p and Uma is mourning him. "It’s what Carlos would have wanted, so don’t do it for me; do it for him," Uma tearfully says as she reveals her plans to finally grant Wonderland access to Auradon Prep to give Red and other V.K.'s the same chance he had.

New franchise star Cantrall remembers reading that "beautiful" scene in the script for the first time, and was grateful that the movie honored the late actor onscreen.

"That's the part that gets everyone every single time," she tells Entertainment Weekly. "I had seen so many versions of this script, and it's altered and changed through each version, but the one thing that remained the same in the script was always that tribute. It just felt so right and so needed and so purposeful. We felt his presence throughout filming — he brought so much to these films so it only felt right and natural to give him this tribute."

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Baker agrees that including that tribute to Boyce was "so incredibly needed."

"We went through so many drafts and versions of this script that you guys didn’t get to see and the one thing that stayed the same in all those versions was that scene," she confirms. "Cameron Boyce had such an impact on me growing up watching this franchise, and his impact didn’t ever go missing while filming and seeing the final product of our addition; his light that we were all fortunate enough to bear witness to is strongly felt."