Luke Evans Says Beauty and the Beast Disney+ Prequel Series is Still 'Gonna Happen' Despite Delay

Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Disney+'s much buzzed-about lBeauty and the Beast prequel series is still in the works, according to star and executive producer Luke Evans.

Pre-production on the musical spinoff of the 2017 live-action film, set to follow Gaston (Evans) and his pal LeFou (Josh Gad) in the early days of their friendship — was stopped at the beginning of the year. But in an interview with Entertainment Weekly published Thursday, Evans insisted the project is very much still alive.

"It's been put on hold," Evans, 43, told the outlet. "We just wanna make sure that it is absolutely the best it can be, and if that means we just have to wait a little longer to finesse certain pieces of it, then that's what we're going to do because this is a very important legacy."

"We want to honor these characters with the best story we can possibly deliver," he added. "It's just on hold. It is gonna happen. We're very excited about it. At some point in the near future, it will happen."

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Beauty and the Beast (2017) Luke Evans as Gaston and Josh Gad as LeFou

Both Gad, 41, and Evans are serving as executive producers on the series, with Gad taking on showrunner responsibilities alongside Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.

Evans told EW that the idea for the show came about when he and Gad were brainstorming ways to work together again after Beauty and the Beast wrapped. "We came up with the idea of, what would it be like to delve into the past of Gaston and LeFou and how they met and who they were and why they became the people that we meet in the movie that we all know and love? That opened up several cans of worms," Evans said.

"To navigate a story of those two people and also new characters, and then bring them right up to the moment where you meet them in the movie has been a thrilling experience," he said. "There's a lot of ways it could go. So that's where we have been so far and where we hopefully will go to in the future."

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As for whether the prequel would explore LeFou's sexuality after Gad's criticism that the remake 'didn't go far enough' with the gay character's storyline, Evans told EW that plans were still up in the air.

"Who knows? I'm not sure," said Evans, who is openly gay.

"There's so many things about these two characters that we don't really know, about their origin stories," he went on to say. "Were they always these creatures or were they different? It's a bit like, no one's born bad. Things happen, you make wrong decisions, or you choose to make a decision that affects the rest of your life. I think that was where we were going with the idea and concept. So I hope one day soon we will be able to deliver that story for you guys."

Disney

Disney officially greenlit the Beauty and the Beast prequel series in June 2021, giving it an eight-episode order.

The series, the network said in press release at the time, "will follow Gaston and LeFou as they set off with LeFou's step-sister, Tilly, after a surprising revelation from her past comes to light, sending the unlikely trio off on an unexpected journey filled with romance, comedy, and adventure.

"While the mysteries of the past are uncovered and the dangers of the present grow, old friends and new enemies reveal that this familiar kingdom harbors many secrets."

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Production was scheduled to begin in spring 2022. But in February, The Wrap reported that the show was "delayed indefinitely" after facing a number of creative and scheduling issues

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the production schedule was delayed due to a desire to film the show in the summer in Europe, in hopes of better weather conditions.

In addition to Evans and Gad, the untitled series was set to star singer Rita Ora as "a fugitive with surprising abilities who carries with her a secret that could potentially affect an entire kingdom." Briana Middleton, Fra Fee and Jelani Alladin were also cast in various roles.