Once Upon a Time was a big hit for ABC, and a large part of that was the show's use of popular fairy tales which had already been adapted by Disney. The show lasted for seven seasons, ending in 2018, and in a move that will probably surprise very few people, some of the creatives behind Once Upon a Time are now working on another series that will mine the same territory for an anthology that will take Disney fairy tales even further.
ABC has put romantic anthology series Epic in development, which comes from Once Upon a Time writer Brigette Hales, and her former mentors there, showrunners / creators / executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. According to Deadline, Epic will take place in a Disney-esq enchanted forest and focus on a new cast of magical creatures, princesses, villains, princes and heroes. While the show is said to pay homage to the popular stories we already know and love, we'll see brand new characters, created just for the show, try to explore "love in all its forms."
Fans of Once Upon a Time will know that those who worked on that long-running drama understand how to mix the fairy tales we're all so familiar with and completely new characters and ideas. While the show did feature many well-loved characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, Rumplestiltskin, Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Cruella De Vil and Ursula, they all mingled with several new ones who were created just for the show.
Of course, Once Upon a Time also featured a love story or two, but the focus of the series was on breaking the curse that sent all of the storybook characters to the real world, robbed them of their memories of their true lives and trapped them in a town where they'd never age. So, you know, there was not a lot of time there to devote to the romances that sprung up, especially if two characters were fated to be together based on how their stories had been told for centuries.
So, when you really think about it, Epic will be good for fans of Once Upon a Time for several reasons. Not only will the people who helped bring one of their favorites shows to the small screen be in charge, but it will also deal with a lot of similar themes as that show. Because Epic is planning to use the framework of Disney fairy tales to bring new characters to life, though, the show can (maybe more easily) go in some very different directions from what those of us who love the stories would be expecting. It's nice to get some surprises when you watch a show, isn't it?
Epic will be written by Hales, who created the show with Kitsis and Horowitz, and all three will executive produce, while the latter two will also supervise and help guide the series through development at ABC. This is the very beginning for Epic, so we don't know yet if it will go to series, when it might air or how many episodes we might expect to see.
Be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more information on Epic, and, in the meantime, be sure to see what you can watch on the small screen when the new year dawns with our 2020 premiere guide and Netflix premiere guide.
