ABC Passes on Fairytale Drama Pilot “Epic”

The new fairytale-drama pilot ordered by ABC from the team behind Once Upon a Time, Epic, has not been ordered to series by the network, according to Deadline.

What’s Happening:

  • Earlier today, we learned that Latinx drama, Promised Land had been given a series order at ABC. However, on the heels of that news came the announcement that another high-profile drama pilot ordered, Epic, was passed on by the network.
  • From some of the team that worked on Once Upon a Time, Epic was a romantic anthology series that set out to reinvent fairytales for a new audience. It was set in the fairytale universe of Disney and will center on a whole new set of new heroes, villains, princes, princesses and all manner of magical beings.
  • Deadline had previously reported that the series would star Sarah Hyland as a princess about to marry her prince charming as he starts to have second thoughts, with her trying to preserve her dreams opening her up to an unexpected world. The series was also set to star Brittany O’Grady and Eleanor Fanyinka, and was described as a romantic anthology series.
  • James Griffiths, who previously worked on The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers was set to direct and executive produce the series.
  • Reportedly, ABC execs had high hopes for the series based on the script, but were disappointed with the final result.
  • As with other unordered pilots, Epic could still be shopped around though it’s strong attachments to Disney based on the show’s description can make that difficult, and no other interested networks or streaming platforms have been named.
  • ABC recently passed on another series, Kevin Costner’s National Parks Investigation, which is reportedly being shopped around. At the time that was announced, ABC still had hopes for Epic as a mid-season pickup, but today’s news tells us that didn’t happen.

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