Raven Symone To Return For Fourth Cheetah Girls Film

What The Cheetah Girls: Next Gen Is About

The film picks up when Galleria and Chanel — played by Raven-Symoné and Bailon respectively — travel to Africa with Galleria’s daughter Faith (Jeffries) and her three friends to volunteer at a wildlife sanctuary. The group must protect the sanctuary and their friendships while ultimately taking the stage as the new Cheetah Girls, per Disney’s official logline.

The Cheetah Girls: Next Gen Full Cast

Leah Sava Jeffries, best known as Annabeth Chase in Disney+’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians, leads said next generation as Faith, Galleria’s daughter while Carmen Sanchez of Electric Bloom plays Dior, Chanel’s sister. Kaileen Chang plays Ruby. Sophie Lennon plays Brooklyn. South African actor Kamogelo Ramashala, discovered through a Disney global open casting call, plays Kendi. Sophia Bush joins in a supporting role as Jennifré.

From the original trilogy, Sabrina Bryan makes a special appearance as Dorinda. Lynn Whitfield and Lori Alter reprise their roles as Galleria’s mother Dorothea and Chanel’s mother Juanita respectively, but Kiely Williams, who played Aqua in the original trilogy, is not attached to the film at this time.

The film is directed and co-produced by Bille Woodruff, whose credits include Bridgerton. The screenplay is written by Kara Holden, Sarah Watson, and Deborah Swisher. Original executive producer Debra Martin Chase, who also produced The Princess Diaries, returns in the same role alongside Raven-Symoné, who is executive producing. Adrienne Bailon serves as a co-producer. Choreography is by Kyle Hanagami, who has previously worked with BLACKPINK, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber.

The Cheetah Girls Franchise — A Brief History

The original The Cheetah Girls premiered on Disney Channel in 2003, starring Raven-Symoné as Galleria, Adrienne Bailon as Chanel, Kiely Williams as Aqua, and Sabrina Bryan as Dorinda, four Manhattan teenagers who form a singing girl group. It was iconic in that it kickstarted the era of Disney channel musicals, and showed a group of girls genuinely diverse in body type, ethnicity and appearance at a time when it was uncommon.

The 2006 sequel, directed by High School Musical veteran Kenny Ortega, relocated the group to Barcelona. The Cheetah Girls: One World followed in 2008, sending the group to India for a Bollywood film albeit without Raven-Symoné, who had departed the franchise. All three films are currently streaming on Disney+.

Raven-Symoné announced the news on Instagram, writing, “It’s happening, and it’s CHEETAHLISHIOUS!”, posting a video of herself heading to set in front of an actual cheetah.

Disney Loves A Sequel

The Cheetah Girls: Next Gen arrives as Disney doubles down on franchise IP. In 2025 alone, the studio released Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zootopia 2, Tron: Ares, Freakier Friday, and the live-action Lilo & Stitch — the latter crossing $1 billion at the global box office and immediately prompting a sequel greenlit for 2028, directed by the voice of Stitch.

In 2026, the pattern has continued with The Mandalorian and Grogu, Toy Story 5, and the live-action Moana all anchoring the theatrical slate. For Disney Channel and Disney+ specifically, the nostalgia playbook is running simultaneously: Camp Rock 3 is coming in August with the Jonas Brothers returning, while Princess Diaries 3 is in development with Anne Hathaway and director Adele Lim attache. At a 2023 event, when interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin read out a 1966 letter by Walt Disney that said that he doesn’t believe in sequels because “there are many new worlds to conquer,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said, “I don’t want to apologize for making sequels”, which seems to remain the strategy here. Cheetah Girls: Next Gen seems a logical next step.