Credit: DisneyA highly anticipated Princess and the Frog project has essentially been canceled at Disney.
As work is well underway at the Disney parks with the construction of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, it seems as though the Walt Disney Company is going full steam ahead with the beloved New Orleans princess. However, there was another project based around Tiana announced in 2021 that appears to have been scrapped.
Following the events of the 2009 animated film, Princess Tiana was expected to reappear in an animated Disney+ series. Described as a “long-form musical series,” the show was expected to be released on Disney+ back in 2023. However, there’s been little update on the project, other than an announcement it had changed showrunners last October. In addition, the studio also announced a live-action adaptation, although it appears as though that project has no recent updates either.
However, anticipation for the opening of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is high, with many excited at the prospect of the attraction opening in the summer of 2024 at the Walt Disney World Resort, much earlier than its previously announced fall timeline. It is possible that Walt Disney Animation could be quietly working on the series behind the scenes and will announce a surprise release around the time that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure opens at Walt Disney World.
The company just pulled a similar move by announcing that the seemingly stalled Moana animated series was being revamped as an animated sequel, set for a release in November of this year. It’s possible that Disney could be working to incorporate the expected storyline of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure with the animated series, given that the attraction’s storyline also follows Tiana after the events of The Princess and the Frog.
The Walt Disney Company suffered a disappointing 2023 across its parks and entertainment sectors. Not only was attendance down within the theme parks, but Disney+ lost millions of subscribers in the first half of the year while Pixar, Disney, and Marvel all saw some of their most disappointing theatrical releases in years. Despite CEO Bob Iger promising a $60 billion investment in the parks over the next decade and reassurance that Disney Studios has refocused their creative ideas, confidence in the company seems to be wavering. A simultaneous release of a theme park attraction with a tie-in Disney+ series could be a promising marketing tactic.
Without any official word from Disney, however, it’s safe to assume that the animated Princess and the Frog project is essentially scrapped at Disney. Depending on the success of Moana 2 and the live-action adaptation, Tiana’s live-action appearance could also be in jeopardy.
Do you think we’ll ever get the animated Tiana series? Let us know what you think in the comments below!