A Walt Disney Animation Studios executive brought fans up to speed on the Disney+ sequel series to 2009’s The Princess and the Frog.
Disney’s Tiana was originally announced back in 2020 during the company’s virtual Investor Day presentation. It was slated for release in 2022 but was subsequently delayed to 2023, then 2024.
Complicating matters even further, the streaming series is now without an announced release date and is, in fact, not searchable on Disney+.
With one confirmed cast member (Anika Noni Rose will reprise her Princess and the Frog role as the title character) and no information of when the show will arrive, Disney animation fans have collectively scratched their heads over Tiana’s status.
Disney Animation Exec Offers New Details on Tiana
Jennifer Lee, Walt Disney animation’s chief creative officer spoke to eCartelera about Tiana, the upcoming Princess and the Frog series.
Per Lee, the Disney+ spin-off will feature a sense of “innovation” in its storytelling:
“I love that Disney+ allows us to introduce experimentation and freshness while also exploring our legacy. Combining celebration and narrative innovation. In that sense, we can play more with the Disney+ series.”
The film on which the series is based came out almost fifteen years ago and has drawn criticism over racial insensitivity. So, naturally, viewers would hope to expect the quality of ”freshness” that Lee mentioned.
The executive went on to hype up Tiana’s “new direction” and “new voice,” while also extolling the benefits of debuting the series on Disney+.
“Tiana is a new world for her, a new direction and a new voice. I think it’s a very good platform to start playing with things that have meant a lot to many of us.”
Tiana Isn’t Disney’s Only Delayed Project
While it isn’t clear why Tiana, again, initially set to arrive last year, has been delayed indefinitely, it’s far from the only Disney+ project that isn’t arriving on time.
For starters, and due to the still-ongoing writers’ and actors’ strikes quite a few of Marvel Studios’ offerings for the streamer have gotten pushed back, with production currently unable to resume on several series.
Star Wars has been no exception to delays either. The Mandalorian was supposed to be gearing up for shooting on Season 4, but the strikes have forced Disney and Lucasfilm to cancel those plans.
It hasn’t been officially indicated whether or not the Hollywood strikes are responsible for Tiana’s lack of release date, but it does seem somewhat likely that they’ve played a hand.
It’s unknown how far into production the show was when the work stoppage commenced and it’s worth noting that animation writers are not under the Writers Guild of America’s umbrella.
However, any uncompleted voice work for Tiana that was to be provided by a SAG-AFTRA member is presently unable to be rendered under strike regulations.
It could actually be that Tiana is fully completed and Disney is waiting for what they deem to be the right time to release it, but even this remains to be seen. Still, Jennifer Lee’s statement should at least prove somewhat encouraging to fans who have been champing at the bit to watch the series.
