The upcoming 2D-animated Walt Disney Animation Studios series Tiana — a long-form, musical extension of the 2009 movie The Princess and the Frog — has brought on Joyce Sherrí as the project’s lead writer and director. Announced in 2020 and previously expected to premiere this year, the show is now looking at a 2024 launch on Disney+.
Stella Meghie, who was previously tapped to spearhead the series, remains as an executive producer alongside Walt Disney Animation Studios CCO Jennifer Lee. Nathan Curtis is producing.
Per the studio:
‘In the series, Tiana sets off for a grand new adventure as the newly crowned Princess of Maldonia, but a calling to her New Orleans past isn’t far behind.’
Tiana will voice star Anika Noni Rose, returning to the role of a driven New Orleans waitress who dreams of owning her own restaurant, and through a magical misadventure becomes a princess — the first African-American character in the Disney Princess franchise.
Having established herself as an N.Y.C.-based indie filmmaker, Sherrí has in recent years worked as a staff writer on Mike Flanagan’s horror series Midnight Mass and as a story editor on the upcoming Mark Millar comic-book adaptation The Magic Order, both for Netflix. She is the writer-director of live-action shorts including Beauty, Forever, The Family Romance and Down, Down, Baby.
Sherrí’s feature film screenplay Sweet Sixteen won the 2020 Slamdance competition, and was selected for the 2021 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Intensive. She is repped by Gersh, Untitled and Del Shaw Moonves.
Tiana is due for a big comeback next year. The character will also be spotlighted at Disney Parks with the introduction of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, which will replace Splash Mountain (inspired by Disney’s controversial Song of the South) at Disneyland (Anaheim, Calif.) and Magic Kingdom (Orlando, Flor.) in late 2024. The ride will feature new Audio-Animatronic characters and animated projections, as well as an original song. Rose is providing voiceover for the ride, alongside her film costars Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley and Jenifer Lewis.
[Source: Variety]
