Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast remake was a massive hit in 2017, so it is no surprise that the House of Mouse has gone all-in on a spin-off series based on the movie, which will start filming this spring, according to actor Josh Gad. The actor known to many Disney fans as the voice of Olaf in the Frozen franchise played the role of LeFou in Beauty and the Beast and will be reprising the role in the prequel series called The Little Town, which will also star Luke Evans back in the role of Gaston.

The new series is expected to air sometime in 2023 on Disney+ if all goes well, and while LeFou and Gaston will be the central characters in the prequel, it will not be completely focused on the duo, with Briana Middleton joining the fun as LeFou’s step-sister Tilly. There is currently little known about how the plot of the series will pan out and what it will add to the Beauty and the Beast story if anything, but with songwriter Alan Menken back to deliver a bunch of new tunes we are guaranteed a musical extravaganza that will certainly please fans of Gad and Evans’ versions of the classic characters.

Gad recently spoke to ComicBook.com about his own new series Wolf Like Me, and was clearly very excited to share an update on the project. After being held up for a long time thanks to the pandemic, it is easy to see why the ever jubilant Gad would be eager to get on with filming. He said:

“We're still planning on shooting this spring and the scripts are incredible, the music is unbelievable, all-new songs by Alan Menken, we're casting now.”

The Little Town Casting Will Bring New Life To The Beauty and The Beast Setting

As Gad said, casting is currently underway and with the actor expecting to begin filming in the next few months, it is likely that we will know more about the rest of the cast very soon. Of course, being a prequel series, there are a few questions about exactly how the story will develop around the town that makes up the main setting for the original Beauty and the Beast story. If the series is set within the “little town,” which is a reference to the opening song from the movie, “Belle,” then it would be peculiar if the series doesn’t feature the character of Belle in some way considering Gaston’s infatuation with the beauty, however, there has been no mention of any other stars from the movie such as Emma Watson or Kevin Cline, who played her father, reprising their roles for the show.

All in all, Disney has been working for a few years now on the type of content that is going to keep the interest of subscribers to the Disney+ platform, and in the same way, they have expanded their Star Wars and Marvel IPs with TV series exclusive to the platform, we can probably expect to see more spin-offs from some of their biggest movie hits coming in future, and long-time Disney fans will be more than happy to accept these new expansions as and when they come.