Beauty and the Beast prequel series is not moving forward "at this time" at Disney+

Deadline

The live-action prequel to the 2017 Beauty and the Beast film, which would've had Luke Evans and Josh Gad reprising their Gaston and LeFlou roles, has been put on hold due to creative and scheduling issues. "The decision comes as the lead cast of the eight-episode series had been assembled ahead of the planned summer 2022 shoot in the U.K.," reports Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "According to sources, the call not to proceed with the show was made for creative reasons, with the scripts and original music not coming together in the direction expected or running behind schedule. With a number of creative elements up in the air and the shoot’s start already pushed from early spring to summer, a decision was made to put the project on hold. Pushing filming further into the fall was not an option because of talent availability and weather concerns, sources said." The news comes three days after Rita Ora was announced as joining Beauty and the Beast. Gad co-created the prequel series with Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. "This is the second incarnation of the project, which had been in the works at Disney for a couple of years," notes Andreeva. "Disney intends to continue work on the series and eventually made it; it is unclear whether the current creative auspices will remain involved." "Sadly, ‘Tis true," Gad and Evans each tweeted in confirming the news. "We tried to make it all work but under the gun it wasn’t meant to be… for now. These characters and this story will live on, but sometimes the best intentions & reality collide & nothing can be done."