Dove Cameron & Thomas Doherty's Descendants 2 Characters Have A Romantic Backstory You Won't See In The Movie

Sometimes it's hard to contain real-life chemistry when actors are obligated to play platonic onscreen. For these two Disney Channel stars, however, their offscreen romance actually gave another layer to their Descendants 2 characters.

Rather than try to play down the sizzling chemistry, this pair used it to inspire a backstory for their characters Mal and Harry — though you won't learn about it in the upcoming movie.

Descendants 2 is scheduled to premiere on July 21, but it only takes a single viewing of the trailer to see that there are definitely sparks flying between Cameron's Mal and Doherty's Harry. That makes plenty of sense, since the actors confirmed their real-life relationship back in February. It certainly would make sense for Mal — the reformed villainess daughter of Maleficent, played by Kristin Chenoweth in the first film —to have a history with Harry, the apparent son of Captain Hook. Now, it seems that the backstory is totally, 100% canon — thanks to Cameron's clever storytelling.

The actress spoke to J-14 about the characters' history, and it sounds like some tabloid gossip from the Isle of the Lost.

"Mal actually dated Harry Hook before dating Ben [Mal's boyfriend, who is played by Mitchell Hope]. So that was each of their first loves, which is kind of funny. She was the baddest girl and he was the baddest guy. It was sort of like a Johnny [Depp] and Winona [Ryder]thing. They were madly in love," Cameron confirmed to the outlet.

The former Liv & Maddie star added that the pair split after the rivalry between Mal and Uma (Ursula's daughter, who is played by China Anne McClain) got too intense. However, Cameron said that both Mal and Harry have something to remember their ill-fated romance by:

"[Mal] broke Harry’s heart," Cameron told J-14. "We also decided that they got secret hook tattoos, and Thomas and I would draw them under our gloves every day. We were so into the backstory... [The director, Kenny Ortega] would come up to us and be like, 'Do you guys have the hook tattoos?' And we’re like, 'Yeah, Kenny. Every day.'"

Hook tattoos aside, there's zero love between Mal and Harry when Descendants 2 picks up. According to Cameron, Harry now "hates" Mal, and is firmly on Uma's side in the conflict we'll see in the new movie.

Of course, Harry shouldn't be too upset. At least he didn't have to cover up his hook tattoo with something awkward, like "Wino Forever."