“What’s next, a prequel about Gaston?” is no longer just a joke about Disney’s current love for creating backstories for its villains. Though the company was “in talks” with Luke Evans and Josh Gad about a Gaston-and-LeFou series over a year ago, it’s only now official: Disney+ has ordered an eight-episode musical series about the two characters from 2017’s live-action Beauty and the Beast.
The series will introduce a new character, LeFou’s stepsister Tilly (Briana Middleton). Set years before Beauty and the Beast, the story finds Tilly, LeFou, and Gaston setting out on an adventure after a mysterious revelation from Tilly’s past arises.
Confusingly, the show will be called Beauty and the Beast, despite focusing on neither Beauty nor the Beast as we know them—but perhaps Tilly’s past will hold some key to this mystery. The Hollywood Reporter quoted Disney Branded Television president Gary Marsh: “For anyone who’s ever wondered how a brute like Gaston and a goof like LeFou could have ever become friends and partners, or how a mystical enchantress came to cast that fateful spell on the prince-turned-beast, this series will finally provide those answers … and provoke a whole new set of questions.”
Josh Gad is wearing many hats for the series, including executive producer and writer, and will share showrunning duties with Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who will also write for the show. Alan Menken will provide the soundtrack, and Liesl Tommy (Eclipsed) will direct the pilot. All of these people are also executive producers. No one else from the live-action Beauty and the Beast movie is expected to appear on the show.
Production is set to begin in spring of 2022.
