The VKs are back in action!
Descendants 3 premieres tonight on the Disney Channel, with new songs to sing and battles to fight, and in a brand new featurette exclusive to E! News, the core four cast explains exactly what has changed this time around and how their characters have evolved over the three movies, from a ragtag group of villain kids to a group of much more grown-up, understanding group of teens who are just trying to keep the peace and find their own way in the world without the influence of their evil parents.
The third movie finds Mal (Dove Cameron), Evie (Sofia Carson), Carlos (Cameron Boyce), and Jay (Booboo Stewart) returning to the Isle of the Lost to recruit new kids for Auradon Prep, the fancy school previously reserved for only the "good" kids.
"When a barrier breach jeopardizes the safety of Auradon during their departure off the Isle, Mal resolves to permanently close the barrier, fearing that nemeses Uma (China Anne McClain) and Hades (Cheyenne Jackson) will wreak vengeance on the kingdom," the official description reads. "Despite her decision, an unfathomable dark force threatens the people of Auradon, and it's up to Mal and the VKs to save everyone in their most epic battle yet."
They've all got new attitudes and new looks to go with the new battle they're fighting.
Sofia Carson says that while in the first movie, her character was very much a princess, she's now got her own fashion line.
"She's a business woman executive who made her dreams come true," Carson says.
Booboo Stewart says Jay has learned to trust in his team and chosen family, and Dove Cameron explains that Mal used to live on the defensive, but at the beginning of D3, "she's really stepped into her own, taking all these obstacles and she's turning it into this person she wants to be."
"Carlos' sort of evolution from the first movie to the third is really a kid who has only ever been shown one way of living to, in the third movie, really having an understanding of wow, I can make choices on my own," says Cameron Boyce.
Boyce died of epilepsy on July 6, just ahead of when promotion for Descendants 3 would have begun, and his family launched a foundation in his honor, aiming to provide "young people artistic and creative outlets as alternatives to violence and negativity and uses resources and philanthropy to positive change in the world." You can find more information on the foundation's website.
Descendants 3 premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on Disney Channel and Disney Now.