Beauty & the Beast prequel series in development with Gad & Evans returning

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

No one's slick like Gaston. No one's quick as Gaston. No one's set to get his own prequel on Disney+ like Gaston!

Today Disney has announced that Luke Evans and Josh Gad will reprise their roles as Gaston and LaFou, respectively, for a prequel series dancing out of Disney's 2017 live-action take on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The untitled project is currently in its early stages of development, and will be presented as a musical with Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz set to co-write and serve as showrunners. What's more is that in addition to flouncing around as Gaston's right-hand-man, LaFou, Gad will also serve as a co-writer on the enchanted project, with he, Horowitz, and Kitsis also executive producing.

The untitled limited series will be presented to Disney+ subscribers as a six-episode musical event, with composer Alan Menken in talks to return for more quality jams hailing from Conques, Belle's hometown. According to sources close to the project, the series will take place long before the events of the film and will act as a way of expanding the Beauty and the Beast universe. For the moment, no other stars from the 2017 film are expected to appear as a part of the series, though Disney is not ruling out the possibility of including characters like Emma Watson's Belle and Dan Stevens' Beast for guest spots.

Those close to the project are saying that the idea for a Gaston and LaFou prequel series was floated while Kitsis and Horowitz were working alongside Gad on the scrapped MUPPETS LIVE ANOTHER DAY series that was in the works for Disney+. The Muppets project had been planned as an eight-episode limited series that took place after the events of MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN. While the Muppets will not live another day on Disney+ under the trio's supervision, it's nice to know that an intriguing project based on one of Disney's most time-honored classics has come from their time spent working together on the defunct idea.