--- ---  # Here's the Latest Addition to _Beauty and the Beast_'s Live Action Cast  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Apr 13, 2015 6:08 PM UTC  Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw Actress Gugu Mbatha-RawDavid Livingston—Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Apr 13, 2015 6:08 PM UTC The hottest roles in Hollywood right now are apparently random household items: British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, star of last year’s music-industry drama _Beyond the Lights_, has joined the cast of Disney’s _Beauty and the Beast_ as Plumette the feather duster. Mbatha-Raw, who also had a role in _Jupter Ascending_, will star in the live-action adaptation alongside Emma Watson (Belle), Dan Stevens (the Beast), Ian McKellen (Cogsworth the clock) and Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts the teapot), _Variety_ reports. Mbatha-Raw already has a Belle under her belt, but not the fairy tail kind — she played [Dido Elizabeth Belle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle%5F%282013%5Ffilm%29#Cast) in the 2013 period drama _Belle_. Bill Condon, who helmed _Dreamgirls_ and two _Twilight_ films, will direct the film, which is scheduled to begin production later this year before hitting theaters on March 17, 2017\. It’s one of several of Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics, including _The Jungle Book_ and [_Mulan_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/30/disney-developing-live-action-mulan-film). \[[_Variety_](http://variety.com/2015/film/news/beauty-and-the-beast-gugu-mbatha-raw-plumette-1201470581/)\] Beauty and the Beast: 'Beyond the Lights' Gugu Mbatha-Raw Joins Cast ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3819780/beauty-and-the-beast-gugu-mbatha-raw/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3819780/beauty-and-the-beast-gugu-mbatha-raw/"},"headline":"Here's the Latest Addition to Beauty and the Beast's Live Action Cast","datePublished":"2015-04-13T18:08:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:21:40.203Z","description":"Gugu Mbatha-Raw joins Emma Watson for the live-action adaptation","url":"https://time.com/3819780/beauty-and-the-beast-gugu-mbatha-raw/","keywords":["movies","Emma Watson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bae37c64e06463a/6987ead006f2c15367337b2a/mbatha-raw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2bae37c64e06463a/6987ead006f2c15367337b2a/mbatha-raw.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw","caption":"Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw","creditText":"David Livingston—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3819780/beauty-and-the-beast-gugu-mbatha-raw/","name":"Here's the Latest Addition to Beauty and the Beast's Live Action Cast"}}]}] ```