The cast of the Descendants franchise are mourning following the sudden death of their co-star Cameron Boyce. The Disney Channel star, who portrayed villain Cruella De Vil’s son Carlos, passed away in his sleep at the age of 20 over the weekend.
“The cast is in complete shock,” a source told E! News. “They were getting ready for Descendants 3 press and had really been looking forward to being together again.”
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Boyce, along with Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson and Booboo Stewart all reprised their roles for the upcoming third installment of the franchise, which follows famous Disney villains’ children as they wrestle with determining whether or not they inherited their parents’ evilness. Having starred alongside one another since 2015, the cast was said to be “incredibly close.”
“The cast is incredibly close and this is such a devastating loss. They’ve all been texting since they got the news. It’s going to take a long process to heal,” the source explained. “For now, they’re all leaning on each other to get through it and sending their love to his family.”
Boyce, who rose to fame on the series Jessie, died at home in his sleep on Saturday after suffering a seizure.
“It is with a profoundly heavy heart that we report that this morning we lost Cameron,” his family announced the tragic news in a statement. “He passed away in his sleep due to a seizure which was a result of an ongoing medical condition for which he was being treated. The world is now undoubtedly without one of its brightest lights, but his spirit will live on through the kindness and compassion of all who knew and loved him.”
After news of his death broke, many of Boyce’s co-stars took to social media to pay tribute to the late actor and mourn his loss.
“I did the Descendants movie, and all those kids are like my kids. Just like the Glee kids are. Just like the Hairspray kids are. But Cameron Boyce was one of my babies,” Kristin Chenoweth, who portrayed Maleficent in the movie, said of his loss. “I remember that we were, you know, ‘Five, six, seven, eight’ — rehearsing, rehearsing and rehearsing, and that kid never ran out of energy. And I said, ‘You’re like Justin Timberlake. You’re like a humming bird. You never stop.’ This is a true story.”
Director Kenny Ortega also remembered Boyce in an emotional post, writing that Boyce “brought Love, Laughter and Compassion with him everyday I was in his presence. His talent, immeasurable. His kindness and generosity, overflowing. It has been an indescribable honor and pleasure to know and work with him.”
Although an autopsy on Boyce was performed and completed on Monday, an official cause of death has not been determined and has since been deferred pending further investigation.
