9 Mar – The release of the live-action "Beauty and the Beast" in 2017 was not without controversy, especially when it comes to Josh Gad's LeFou – the flamboyant sidekick of Luke Evans' Gaston – but that's not stopping Disney from moving forward with a prequel series focused on the duo. The series is set to be streamed on Disney+ and will tell of the duo's origin story, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The streaming service has partnered up with "Once Upon a Time" creators Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz for the currently untitled six-episode limited musical series.
Gad and Evans will both be reprising their respective roles while also serving as the show's executive producers. Aside from that, Gad will join Kitsis and Horowitz as scriptwriters and showrunners. Reportedly, the three of them started discussing the prequel idea after departing the cancelled "Muppets Live Another Day" comedy series that they worked on for months at Disney+. Though set to expand the "Beauty and the Beast" universe, it is not known whether other cast members from the live-action adaptation – such as Emma Watson and Dan Stevens who starred as the title characters – will join the series, since it will be set well before the events of the movie. There's a possibility that some of them might make guest appearances. Talks of follow-ups to the 2017 movie started circulating not long after its theatrical release, with Disney already exploring "possible spinoff and prequel scenarios". Not surprising considering it made USD 1.264 billion on a less than USD300 million budget, despite the gay controversies that nearly axed its release in several more conservative territories.