Beauty and the Beast: Gaston and LeFou

[UmbrellaFish]

BATB prequel series about Gaston and LeFou in the works at Disney+

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/l ... ssion=true

What the hell is going on over there? How can they be so bad at making shows people want?

What am I saying... Gad’s gay LeFou means this show will be moved to Hulu anyway...

[Sotiris]

What on earth? Why waste a billion dollar franchise on a streaming series? If they wanted to further exploit the IP why not make a sequel?

[nomad2010]

BATB prequel series about Gaston and LeFou in the works at Disney+

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/l ... ssion=true

What the hell is going on over there? How can they be so bad at making shows people want?

What am I saying... Gad’s gay LeFou means this show will be moved to Hulu anyway...

I’m sorry, what? Who on earth thinks anyone wants to see properties based on irredeemable villains? Especially one who’s simply a hunter or war hero with a giant ego? Do they not understand their audience at all? I’m honestly at a point of unsubscribing after the Lizzie McGuire fiasco and the current slate of originals they are producing. Nothing is worthwhile. And I can almost guarantee none of these shows will be anything anyone genuinely enjoys. They can attempt to prove me wrong, but this is just bizarre. It’s like an SNL parody over there or something.

[Farerb]

What on earth? Why waste a billion dollar franchise on a streaming series? If they wanted to further exploit the IP why not make a sequel?

They have the possibility to make more money from D+ than in theaters because a portion of the money goes to distributers and cinemas. It is speculated that the main goal of streaming services is for studios to stop distributing their films in cinemas and be dependent on them and eventually have a complete control on their property and make more money.

[Sotiris]

What am I saying... Gad’s gay LeFou means this show will be moved to Hulu anyway...

That's not going to be a problem. This being a prequel means they won't have to explore his sexuality as LeFou didn't come to terms with it until the end of the film.

I’m sorry, what? Who on earth thinks anyone wants to see properties based on irredeemable villains? Especially one who’s simply a hunter or war hero with a giant ego? Do they not understand their audience at all?

I know, right? I would have preferred a prequel/spin-off about Maurice and Belle's mother over this.

[Sotiris]

I just noticed this is being made by the OUAT showrunners. RIP Beauty and the Beast.

[Farerb]

I just noticed this is being made by the OUAT showrunners. RIP Beauty and the Beast.

Yeah, I'm not gonna watch anything related to live action Beauty and the Beast. However, if that wasn't enough to make me not watch it, then the fact it is going to be by OUAT's creators definitely makes me not watch it.

[Clindor]

Lol, that could be funny.. nothing too serious, but funny

What on earth? Why waste a billion dollar franchise on a streaming series? If they wanted to further exploit the IP why not make a sequel?

There is something that doesn't suit too well when it comes to make sequels to Fairy Tales' adaptations... with a very few exceptions.
European fairy tales are well known to be a single timeless story that is satisfactory in itself. Once the story is told, it is told and there is no consistent need to go beyond that. What could come good of a Cinderella 2 or a Beauty and the Beast 2? The result is likely to deliver something that is weaker than the first film. Or if not, it is usually best to go with an original project. In BatB case though, I could have imagined a plausible prequel, because the first version of the fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve offers some kind of first part centered around enchantresses. They could have named the project 'Enchantresses' actually (but not that I want to give Disney any idea )

[Sotiris]

What could come good of a Cinderella 2 or a Beauty and the Beast 2?

Money, that's what! Were Alice in Wonderland or Maleficent more conducive to sequelization than Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast? I don't think so. They could have easily made sequels to both of them. Disney doesn't care about quality or tainting their legacy which makes their decision to not move forward with a sequel to BatB even more baffling to me.

In BatB case though, I could have imagined a plausible prequel, because the first version of the fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve offers some kind of first part centered around enchantresses. They could have named the project 'Enchantresses' actually

A spin-off about the Enchantress is actually a pretty good idea. They could explore her character, address her origins, and expand the universe. I'd take that any day over a LeFou/Gaston one.

[unprincess]

weird ...well I know of one supposedly" irredeemable"Disney villain whose fans are desperate he get his own spin-off series, but its not Gaston.

[UmbrellaFish]

What am I saying... Gad’s gay LeFou means this show will be moved to Hulu anyway...

That's not going to be a problem. This being a prequel means they won't have to explore his sexuality as LeFou didn't come to terms with it until the end of the film.

Creating a series where one of Disney’s many very first gay characters is a co-lead opens a considerable can of worms that I’m not sure Disney fully appreciates. It seems impossible that LeFou’s sexuality would not come up in a series in which he co-stars with his crush. The queer and left communities will not be happy if LeFou’s sexuality is not treated with extreme sensitivity and some greater level of depth than that presented in the movie— I’m not talking about a make-out session, but instead of using it for cheap jokes, Disney must use this opportunity in a long-form narrative medium to actually flesh out and humanize this character who is homosexual and who presumably struggles with this.

Disney won’t be willing to do that though and they’ll end up losing any woke brownie points they earned with the character in 2017– and it wasn’t much to begin with. God, I can’t believe I’m having to how important it is to treat The Fool’s sexuality with dignity. Thanks Bill Condon and Josh Gad. Thanks so much.

[Disney Duster]

In BatB case though, I could have imagined a plausible prequel, because the first version of the fairy tale written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve offers some kind of first part centered around enchantresses. They could have named the project 'Enchantresses' actually

A spin-off about the Enchantress is actually a pretty good idea. They could explore her character, address her origins, and expand the universe. I'd take that any day over a LeFou/Gaston one.

Seconded!

God, I can’t believe I’m having to how important it is to treat The Fool’s sexuality with dignity. Thanks Bill Condon and Josh Gad. Thanks so much.

I actually liked LeFou being gay though. In a parody of the song "Belle" I wrote on here, I made LeFou be in love with Gaston, so maybe it's just kind of a natural idea? Either way, I can't hate seeing a fairly so-so looking fat guy get lucky with a handsome guy.

[JeanGreyForever]

Wow, the OUAT creators are behind this. Definitely count me out, even as a fan of Luke Evans and Josh Gad. I know people are hating on this idea and to be honest I thought this was a joke at first, but Gaston and LeFou were the two best parts of the live-action remake so it has that going for it.

weird ...well I know of one supposedly" irredeemable"Disney villain whose fans are desperate he get his own spin-off series, but its not Gaston.

Frollo?

[Farerb]

weird ...well I know of one supposedly" irredeemable"Disney villain whose fans are desperate he get his own spin-off series, but its not Gaston.

Frollo?

Hans.

[estefan]

I was very disappointed that the Muppet show these three were working on didn't move forward, because it sounded wonderful. So I'm glad they were able to find another project to collaborate on. I guess Josh Gad really liked playing LaFou, too.

With Alan Menken writing songs for this new series and LaFou being a largely comedic character, I can see this going the "Galavant" route. And I would definitely be up for more "Galavant"-esque shows.

[JeanGreyForever]

Frollo?

Hans.

That definitely makes more sense. TBH, I barely consider Hans a villain most of the time because of how hamfisted the reveal is so it didn't even dawn on me that he was the "villain" unprincess was referring to.

I'm all for more Hans!

[Farerb]

That definitely makes more sense. TBH, I barely consider Hans a villain most of the time because of how hamfisted the reveal is so it didn't even dawn on me that he was the "villain" unprincess was referring to.

I'm all for more Hans!

The only time it worked for me was Zootopia and that's because it's a mystery film so they can't really reveal who did at the beginning cause then there won't be any mystery. Hans could have still been an antagonist without turning him into a one dimensional character.

[JeanGreyForever]

That definitely makes more sense. TBH, I barely consider Hans a villain most of the time because of how hamfisted the reveal is so it didn't even dawn on me that he was the "villain" unprincess was referring to.

I'm all for more Hans!

The only time it worked for me was Zootopia and that's because it's a mystery film so they can't really reveal who did at the beginning cause then there won't be any mystery. Hans could have still been an antagonist without turning him into a one
dimensional character.

Agreed about Zootopia.

Same. They could have revealed Hans much earlier like midway through the film or when he goes to confront Elsa, either at her ice palace or during the dungeon. A Frozen Heart, the novelization, has some great Hans backstory and insight into his character and we needed that in the film.

Frankly, the film would have been better off by focusing on the two most interesting characters, Elsa and Hans, and how both are so similar but turn out so differently thanks to Elsa choosing love rather than rejecting it like Hans did. Instead we got Anna and Kristoff's dynamic which is basically akin to that of any other Disney couple from that same era. This would also give the protagonist (because Elsa should have been the protagonist) a real connection to the villain which is something almost all the recent Disney films have been lacking in. I guess I get a lot of Reylo vibes from Elsa and Hans now and I think it would have been interesting for Elsa to grapple with her dark side more explicitly before rejecting the path Hans chose thanks to Anna's love.

[Farerb]

My idea was to have the kiss not work and then Hans resorts to killing Elsa because he thinks that that's the only way to save everyone (including Anna), but that's probably too complex for Frozen. I also would've given Elsa a moment where she chooses to do the right thing (like Moana or Simba) instead of being forced into the situation, give her more agency, cause in the final film she's kind of passive.
I don't really have a problem with Anna and Kristoff except of how underdeveloped they are...to the point that the filmmakers really had no idea what to do with them in the sequel.

[Disney Duster]

My idea was to have the kiss not work and then Hans resorts to killing Elsa because he thinks that that's the only way to save everyone (including Anna), but that's probably too complex for Frozen.

Dude, that is a genius idea!