Prequel Alert For That Beloved Tale Of Stockholm Syndrome

Disney's beloved tale of Stockholm Syndrome as old as time, Beauty and the Beast, is getting its own streaming series. Since Disney+ is intent on wringing every last drop of value from its stable of franchises, the streaming service will reportedly produce a Beauty and the Beast prequel. Fun! So is it about Belle's early adventures? Or the Beast's life, pre-curse? Or maybe an existential drama about how those poor servants adjusted to life as inanimate objects? Nope, apparently the new show is going to be about the adventures of this goddamn asshole:

Yup, Gaston, that roided-out cretin who sing-brags about how many eggs he can eat for some insane reason. The new miniseries will tell the "origin story" of the infamous character, as played by Luke Evans in the 2017 live-action remake. Which is kind of a weird choice for the lead of a new kid's show? After all, it's 2020 do we really need to shade in a more nuanced backstory for a Disney character who treats the concept of consent the way Mary Poppins treats child endangerment laws?

Josh Gad will also be back, reprising his role as LeFou, the focus of the film's famous "exclusively gay moment"-- which turned out to be more of a cringe queer-baiting insinuation concerning the villains-- that basically advanced gay rights in the same way that Peter Pan raised awareness for amputees.

And while other Disney projects have featured villains as protagonists, such as Maleficent and the upcoming Cruella, those are typically revisionist takes on the properties that cast these famous baddies in a new light. This Beauty and the Beast show's canonical end-point is presumably still Beauty and the Beast. So the show's hero will inevitably become a toxic creep-- unless Disney introduces Midi-chlorian-like cells that infect otherwise lovely people with magical douchebaggery.

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