Per Deadline, Disney+’s upcoming eight-episode Beauty and the Beast prequel series has added Jelani Alladin as Jean-Michel, “a talented artist who has a quick wit, a sharp intellect, and a fierce independent streak”.
Alladin has previously worked with Disney when he played Kristoff in the Broadway adaptation of the 2013 animated film Frozen. His other credits include playing Will Campbell in The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which ran on AMC from 2020-2021, as well as a role in tick, tick…BOOM!.
Alladin will star alongside Josh Gad and Luke Evans, who are reprising their roles as LeFou and Gaston respectively from the 2017 live-action version of Beauty and the Beast, while Brianna Middleton will play LeFou’s step-sister Tilly. The series is set to be developed by Gad, director Liesl Tommy and showrunners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
The prequel series will be set years before the Beast and Belle’s epic romance and will follow Gaston (Evans) and LeFou (Gad) as they set off with LeFou’s stepsister, Tilly (Middleton), after a surprising revelation from her past comes to light, sending the unlikely trio off on an unexpected journey filled with romance, comedy, and adventure. While the mysteries of the past are uncovered and the dangers of the present grow, old friends and new enemies reveal that this familiar kingdom harbours many secrets.
