Luke Evans says Beauty and the Beast spin-off series 'is gonna happen': 'It's just on hold'

Once upon a time, Luke Evans and Josh Gad had plans to reprise their Disney roles from the live-action Beauty and the Beast for a Gaston- and LeFou-centric spin-off series on Disney+. Then, abruptly at the start of the year, the project was indefinitely put on hold.

Evans, sitting down over Zoom with EW for his new film Pinocchio, promises the series will happen.

"It's been put on hold. 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," the actor from Nine Perfect Strangers and The Alienist says. "We want to honor these characters with the best story we can possibly deliver. 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."

Laurie Sparham/Disney Josh Gad and Luke Evans in 'Beauty and the Beast'

Evans says he and Gad talk all the time. They had always wanted to work together, and then when Beauty and the Beast, the film, happened, they were looking for something else to partner on. "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 recalls. "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. 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."

The Emma Watson-led Beauty and the Beast of 2017 made waves when it was revealed that Gad's LeFou was gay in the film, though many critics, including the LGBTQ community at large, felt that element had been buried. Even Gad says he felt the moment didn't go far enough. When asked if this element is something he hopes will be explored in the prequel series, Evans, who is openly gay, says, "Who knows? I'm not sure."

"There's so many things about these two characters that we don't really know, about their origin stories," he notes. "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 + Luke Evans as the Coachman in Disney's live-action, CG-animated 'Pinocchio'

For now, Evans can be seen on screen in another Disney production as the Coachman in Pinocchio. He was surprised to get the call from director Robert Zemeckis about joining the new film. He thought Beauty and the Beast was a one-and-done job with the Mouse House.

"I feel like I'm almost unrecognizable in the character, and that was part of the fun of it," he says, noting the hour and 20 minutes it took to transform into the Coachman each time, between the fake teeth, makeup, wigs, and costumes.

"It's the cocktail of creatives and the concept that I thought was brilliant," Evans continues. "Robert Zemeckis at the helm with his incredible ability to tell stories, also his awareness and use of the most current technology in cinema nowadays, which could lend itself very well to this kind of story. But also his ability to work with actors and how he brings out such amazing performances from humans, as well as animated characters."

Evans was always a little terrified of the original Pinocchio, including the borderline macabre sequences involving the Coachman and the donkey transformations of the kidnapped children. He wanted to bring a sense of authenticity and integrity to those same scenes in the new film.

"A live-action remake of an 2D-animated character means you have to really think outside the box and be brave," he explains. "My character, for example, is nothing like he is in the animation. He's much darker and scarier. Although the one in the animation was scary, but I'm also a real human being. I can move differently. We were able to incorporate physical things within the character that we couldn't have done with the animation. I embrace all that. I think most of the time it's warranted in films. This one definitely is warranted."

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