We’ve been inundated with teases and footage from Disney’s upcoming Aladdin remake over the last few weeks and the general buzz can be summed up as: Will Smith’s Genie looks weird and Arrested Development memes involving blue man Tobias.
But while people are busy judging Smith’s Genie based on the released footage and images, we have a theory that there’s more to the character in the live-action Aladdin than just a beatboxing blue Shrek.
Here’s our hunch: Will Smith is also playing a secret character in addition to Genie.
To show that this isn’t some far-reaching thing we pulled out of a lamp, here’s some background context for how this theory came about.
Remember the fast-talking peddler character who appears at the beginning of the 1992 animated version of Aladdin? Well the prevailing fan theory is the peddler is actually the Genie in disguise and the film was told from his perspective the whole time.
This theory was later confirmed by the film’s directors, Ron Clements and John Musker, who explained that it was their intention to have the peddler and Genie be the same character (Robin Williams even recorded lines for the peddler) and have it all be revealed at the very end but the idea was sadly cut during the editing process.
Subtle, Genie, very subtle.
So how does this theory carry across to the upcoming live-action Aladdin remake? Well let us draw your attention to this 30-second trailer from the film.
Unlike every other trailer we’ve seen so far, this one has Smith narrating and he drops the very intriguing line, “It’s time that I told you the story of Aladdin, the Princess, and the lamp.” Now this could just be a trailer-only voice over that holds no bearing on the film and we’re reading way too much into it.
Or it could be a hint that Aladdin is actually told from the Genie’s perspective, perhaps under the guise of an inconspicuous peddler.
Seeing as how all the Disney live-action remakes have adhered to the source material’s storylines while incorporating some new elements so far, there’s a definite possibility that the studio could’ve revived the old peddler character for Aladdin after having cut him out of the original animated film.
There’s definitely a possibility that this whole theory could amount to the equivalent of jack and all so let’s wait until May 24 when the film comes out and we’ll see if our hunch holds up (and whether the Aladdin is actually, you know, good).