It’s tough to be a bad guy in the Disney universe.
Disney+, the upcoming streaming service, has canceled Book of Enchantment, a TV series that had been in development for nearly a year, according to a report from Deadline. It was based on Serena Valentino’s ongoing series of Villains children’s books, which focus on the stories of various Disney-film baddies.
The report referred to unnamed sources who’d said that Disney+ executives had felt that the scripts were “going into a darker direction than anticipated.” The show, which was first publicly announced in February, had been expected to begin production next year.
Valentino’s book series, published by Disney Press, began with 2009’s Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen (from the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). Five more books followed, including 2014’s The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty’s Prince and 2017’s Mistress of All Evil: A Tale of the Dark Fairy, featuring Maleficent from Disney’s animated film Sleeping Beauty (1959) and live-action production Maleficent (2014).
Disney+, which is scheduled to launch its subscription-only on-demand streaming service in November, is still on track to air a number of other book adaptations. They include a show based on Becky Albertalli’s 2018 YA novel Leah on the Offbeat, the sequel to Simon Versus the Homo Sapiens Agenda (which, in turn, inspired the last year’s hit film Love, Simon); Timmy Failure, a movie based on the children’s-book series by Stephan Pastis; and Stargirl, a film based on Jerry Spinelli’s 2000 YA novel. Several shows featuring Marvel Comics characters are also in the works.
David Rapp is the senior indie editor.
