Disney Plus Developing ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Prequel Series
Beauty and the Beast is going to get a prequel series from the streaming platform Disney Plus. The show will be created by Once Upon a Time showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
The live-action TV show will feature Gaston and LeFou’s origin story. According to reports, Luke Evans and Josh Gad are on board to reprise their roles from the 2017 movie. Gad will also be helping write the scripts.
The Beauty and the Beast series will feature at least six episodes and, like the film, it will be a musical spectacle. Composer Alan Menken has agreed to return to do the music of the series.
It’s unclear if Emma Watson and Dan Stevens will be back as reports stated they have not signed on for the show. However, it’s possible the two lead stars could be popping in for a cameo, per reports.
Sources said that Kitsis and Horowitz had been working with Gad in the Muppets Live Another Day series when the idea came up. Muppets’ didn’t pan out but the trio continued to discuss the Beauty and the Beast prequel.
Kitsis and Horowitz have widely developed the story of Belle and the Beast, played by Emilie de Ravin and Robert Carlyle, in their earlier series for Disney’s ABC. At one point, the showrunners had an idea to spinoff their story from Once Upon a Time into its own show.
Meanwhile, Disney is also developing the sequel to the live-action Aladdin. This will be a feature film for the big screen and not for the streaming platform, according to Variety.
For now, the details about this project are scarce. It’s also unclear if Guy Ritchie will be back to direct but producers still want the original cast — Will Smith (Genie), Mena Massoud (Aladdin) and Naomi Scott (Jasmine) — to be in the production.
