‘Once Upon a Time’ Creators’ Fairy Tale Pilot ‘Epic’ Not Moving Forward at ABC
ABC decided Wednesday not to move forward with “Once Upon a Time” creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis’s fairy tale pilot “Epic,” TheWrap has learned.
The now-scrapped project, which is described as “a romantic anthology series that reinvents fairy tales for a new audience,” stars Brittany O’Grady as cynical princess Lune, Sarah Hyland as princess Rose, Eleanor Fanyinka as the mysterious character The Seer and “Game of Thrones” alum Toby Sebastian as Prince Philippe.
Horowitz and Kitsis, who most recently reteamed to reboot Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” at Apple TV+, are executive producers on the “Epic” pilot. Brigitte Hales, a veteran of “Once Upon a Time” and Hulu’s “11.22.63,” wrote the pilot script and is also an executive producer.
The pilot hailed from Disney’s studio ABC Signature.
Horowitz and Kitsis’ “Once Upon a Time” ran on ABC for seven seasons, from 2011 to 2018. The show, which centered around fairy-tale characters transported into the real world, starred Jennifer Morrison, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Lana Parrilla, Colin O’Donoghue, Jared S. Gilmore and more.
“Epic” was ABC’s last remaining pilots in contention from last season, with the network deciding earlier Wednesday to order pilot “Promised Land” to series. That show comes from writer Matt Lopez and is described as an “epic, generation-spanning drama about two Latinx families vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley.”
“Luck” alum John Ortiz stars in “Promise Land” alongside Cecilia Suárez, Augusto Aguilera, Christina Ochoa, Mariel Molino, Tonatiuh, Andres Velez, Katya Martín and Rolando Chusan.
ABC previously picked up four new series, with a “Wonder Years” reboot and the musical drama “Queens” set to premiere this fall. The mockumentary “Abbott Elementary” and the Rebecca Rittenhouse-led “Maggie” are set to debut at midseason.
Along with “Epic,” ABC’s other recently scrapped pilots include “National Parks Investigation,” which starred Kevin Costner, “Triage” and “Dark Horse.”