It’s the question that, I suppose, some people have been asking: “What were Gaston and LeFou up to before they started harassing Belle?” That’s the idea behind a new Beauty and the Beast prequel series coming to Disney+, which sees Briana Middleton joining the cast as LeFou’s step-sister.
According to a press release, Disney has greenlit an eight-episode limited series that takes place years before the events of 2017’s live-action Beauty and the Beast. The series, which will also be a musical, follows Gaston (Luke Evans), LeFou (Josh Gad), and Tilly (Middleton) on a grand adventure after Tilly learns something shocking about her past. If Disney Branded Television Gary Marsh’s statement is any indication, it may connect to that pesky spell that did in the Beast and his whole castle.
“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,” Marsh said in a statement.
The project comes from the minds of Gad and Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, the minds behind the sometimes questionable Beauty and the Beast pairing between Rumpelstiltskin and Belle, aka “RumpBelle.” They came up with the Gaston and LeFou prequel show idea after they quit their proposed Muppets Live Another Day series, which would’ve been a more-adult look at the characters after the events of The Muppets Take Manhattan. The prequel show will also include original music from Alan Menken, who serves as an executive producer alongside the showrunners.
No word whether we could see other characters from the live-action movie, including Belle (Emma Watson) and the Beast (Dan Stevens), though I’m sure it’s not uncouth to keep our fingers crossed. And hey, maybe LeFou can actually have a boyfriend now instead of whatever this was.
The prequel show will enter production in autumn 2022, and no expected release date has been announced yet.