Hm. I hadn’t heard any of those rumors. I just assumed it was either an unsurprising villain death or a temporary death.
However, I did see the new casting spoiler and good lord if it’s really Cruella Devil (which, with the Dalmatian puppy spoiler, seems unfortunately likely), I just…ugh. She’s by far my least favorite Disney villain (and not in a love-to-hate way, just a hate-to-hate way). I swear if they try to give her any kind of sympathetic backstory or try to “redeem” her, I’m done. Just done (and by done, I mean stop watching, not keep watching for the express purpose of hating it, haha) . I can’t stand anyone hurting animals. I can only hope that that person will play some other character, any other character. Ugh.