Disney is changing plans for a live-action adaptation of one of its animated films and will now develop it as a series for Disney+. According to Deadline, Liz Heldens and Bridget Carpenter are creating Tink, a live-action series centered around Tinker Bell from Peter Pan. Heldens and Carpenter previously collaborated on the acclaimed series Friday Night Lights, earning WGA Award nominations for their work in both 2007 and 2008.
Originally, Tink was planned as a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, pitched in 2015. Like Maleficent and Cruella, it wasn’t a direct remake of a classic Disney animated film, but rather a new story exploring the backstory of a beloved character. In 2021, the project moved to Disney+ as a film, with Witherspoon remaining as a producer and Maria Melnik brought in to revise the script initially written by Victoria Strouse. However, when Yara Shahidi was cast as Tinker Bell in the 2023 live-action Peter Pan & Wendy, the future of the Tink project became uncertain. It’s currently unclear if Witherspoon is still involved now that the project may be a streaming series instead of a film.
Walt Disney Pictures
Tinker Bell was created by J.M. Barrie for his 1904 play, Peter Pan. However, she became truly iconic with the 1953 animated Peter Pan film by Walt Disney Studios. The image of Tinker Bell flying over the Disney castle, sprinkling pixie dust – first seen on the Disneyland television series – made her a beloved symbol of Disney, and arguably the company’s second most recognizable character after Mickey Mouse.
Disney has created standalone stories featuring Tinker Bell before. Back in 2008, they released a computer-animated movie simply titled Tinker Bell, which told her story before she met Peter Pan. Although it seemed like the end of Disney’s practice of making direct-to-video sequels, Tinker Bell actually started a very successful series of its own. This series included five follow-up films: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009), Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Escape (2010), Secret of the Wings (2012), Pirate Fairy (2013), and Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Never Land Beast (2015). The series transformed Tinker Bell from a beloved character into a full-fledged Disney franchise, much like the Disney Princesses or Winnie-the-Pooh.
The new movie Tink is being developed as Disney re-evaluates its strategy for live-action remakes and Disney+ series. Disney has recently cancelled plans for live-action versions of classic films like Robin Hood, The Aristocats, and Bambi, but is moving forward with remakes of more recent hits like Moana and Tangled for theatrical release. At the same time, Disney+ is changing how it approaches live-action content, shifting away from heavy investment in brands like Marvel and Star Wars and instead focusing on developing those properties as major film franchises.
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2026-03-09 23:48