The Disney character Maleficent is the self-proclaimed Mistress of All Evil who was portrayed by Angelina Jolie in the 2014 live-action film Maleficent. Jolie gave quite the performance as the conflicted villain derived from the Sleeping Beauty story. During its first weekend, Maleficent made $170 million, Jolie’s biggest opening weekend ever. Disney knows a good (marketable) character when it sees one, so it’s going to tell the story again but this time on its TV channel.
Jolie doesn’t do small screen stuff so Disney tapped Broadway actress-singer Kristin Chenoweth (Glee, Wicked) to portray Maleficent in the Disney Channel Original Movie, Descendants. This is the role Chenoweth has been waiting for. The last time she played a witch, she played the good one, Glinda, in the musical Wicked. She was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award as Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance but lost to her co-star Idina Menzel who played the Wicked Witch, Elphaba. As Maleficent, Chenoweth is priming herself for another Emmy. (She won one in 2009 for her performance in the fairy tale inspired show, Pushing Daises.)
