This is How the 'Descendants 2' Newbies Bonded With the Original VK's (Exclusive)

We knew the original cast of Descendants was close, but the D2 additions became part of the family as well.

We recently caught up with Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson to talk about what it was like working with newbies Thomas Doherty, China Anne McClain, and Dylan Playfair.

We also talked to China about coming into the successful franchise!

“It was a little bit overwhelming at times, to be honest. The sets are so massive and unique. You haven’t really seen anything like it. With Uma’s pirate ship, and all of these amazing sets, and Thomas and Dylan were so excited as well,” China told us. “It was great. The first movie was so good, and the whole cast welcomed me. I felt like I was family after the first day.”

“It’s been so special to grow our family,” Sofia said. “And they all feel like long-lost brothers and sisters who were always part of the family. China is amazing. She’s a force to be reckoned with and she did an incredible job bringing Uma to life.”

“We met our first day, but a month before shooting, we do bootcamp where we learn how to sword-fight, we learn choreography, we work with Kenny [Ortega, the director] on our character development,” she continued. “I met China when she was recording ‘What’s My Name?’” I met Dylan and Thomas and everyone in our first day of rehearsal. You bond pretty quickly in those rehearsals because you’re there for hours and hours of the day.”

“Dylan was completely new to me. He’s still one of my favorite people on the planet,” Dove told JJJ. “He’s incredibly intelligent, so if you made that character really intelligent, that would be Dylan. He’s so happy-go-lucky. He’s so sunny.”

“China and I have known each other for quite some time,” she said. “I feel like it’s sort of a written rule that all the Disney girls have to cross paths. We actually met at a bunch of auditions. So I was really excited to be working together.”

As for her real-life boyfriend, Dove told us, “And then Thomas and I are obviously dating [she shows us a cute pic of them as her phone background]. That was the best. It was amazing to be able to work with them.”

And this cast spent a lot of time together off-screen too.

“We were always together. There’s this restaurant, we’d go there every night,” China said. “We went there so much that Thomas noticed when they changed one little thing on the menu. It was super fun. Or we would spend time in someone’s hotel room, and we’d play music, have our guitars, and sing and dance. It was really fun.”

Descendants 2 airs July 21 on Disney Channel.

- Reporting by Sharon Tharp @sharontharp