Beauty & the Beast Disney+ Prequel Series Gets Disappointing Update

Luke Evans confirms the television spinoff is currently "not on the table."

By Jenna Anderson

Following the juggernaut performance of 2017's live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, Disney was prepared to double down on the fantasy franchise. A live-action prequel series was planned for the Disney+ streaming service, centered around the unlikely friendship between Gaston (Luke Evans) and LeFou (Josh Gad). In 2022, reports indicated that the series was indefinitely on hold, but there was still a glimmer of hope that the series would still get off the ground in some capacity. In a recent interview with Out, Evans confirmed that the prequel series is "sadly…not on the table" at the moment.

Back in 2022, it was reported that the Beauty and the Beast series was being stalled by behind-the-scenes creative issues and delays with scripts and original music, as well as scheduling issues with the ensemble cast members who were already attached.

What Would the Beauty and the Beast Prequel Series Be About?

The still-untitled Beauty and the Beast prequel would have followed the early days of the alliance between Gaston and LeFou, while expanding upon the mythos of the Beauty and the Beast world. The series would have also starred Briana Middleton (The Tender Bar) as Tilly, LeFou's step-sister; Fra Fee (Marvel's Hawkeye) as the charismatic Prince Benoit Berlioz; and Jelani Alladin (The Walking Dead: World Beyond) as the cool and quick-witted artist Jean-Michel. Rita Ora had been cast in the series in an unknown role.

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"It's been put on hold," Evans previously explained in a 2022 interview. "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. 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."

"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 added. "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."

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