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Ming-Na Wen
Warning: This article contains spoilers for a certain Mulan cameo in Disney’s new live-action movie.
While Disney’s new live-action Mulan—which premiered today on Disney+ for a premium fee of $30—prides itself in standing apart from the beloved 1998 animated film, there are still plenty of callbacks and winks for fans of the original to enjoy. That includes one very big, prominent wink in the form of a cameo from the OG Mulan herself: Ming-Na Wen.
We don’t blame you if you didn’t catch it—the moment is very brief, wasn’t announced beforehand, and comes near the end of the film. Mulan (played by the wonderful Yifei Liu) has successfully thwarted the assassination attempt on the Emperor, and she’s about to be introduced to the leader himself to receive thanks.
She’s led into a grand throne room, where a woman introduces her with the words, “Your imperial highness, Huan Mulan.”
That woman, as it happens, is Ming-Na Wen, who voiced Mulan in the 1998 animated film. Though she’s made up in those bright Disney colors, and of course, older than she once was in ’90s, the voice is unmistakably the Mulan of our childhoods. How fitting that Wen should introduce Liu as the new Mulan, to a new generation of fans.
In an interview with Insider, Mulan cinematographer Mandy Walker said that Wen’s scene was “quite special” for all involved. “You could hear everybody sort of standing like, ‘You know who that is?’ Walker said. “She was really lovely and I thought it was a beautiful gesture to have her in the movie. I think that was the idea — not to make it too broad an announcement, but for people to pick up on it.”
For the especially sharp-eyed fan, there’s even a cameo within a cameo—the young girl who we see in the crowd shortly after Mulan’s introduction is Wen’s real-life daughter.
“After Ming-Na does her introduction, Mulan says something slightly unexpected a few shots later and it cuts to the reaction of someone who gives an ‘Oh my’ reaction,” Mulan producer Jason Reed told Insider. “That is Ming-Na Wen’s daughter.” Reed also said that it was hectic few days, figuring out a time for Wen to fly to New Zealand to appear on set, and then getting her costume ready in time. But it sounds like it was worth it.
If you’re wondering what else Wen has been up to since voicing Mulan—besides 30-second cameo scenes, of course—she’s most recently been starring on ABC superhero drama series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as Melinda May. But Mulan is clearly never far from Wen’s heart—in 2018 she reprised the voice of the warrior yet again, for the animated film Ralph Breaks the Internet. Once Mulan, always Mulan.
