If there was any doubt about which streaming platform is ruling fantasy television right now, Disney+'s upcoming show that combines Wednesday with Enchanted banishes it entirely. Enchanted is, you may recall, a Disney movie from 2007 that essentially allowed the House of Mouse to poke fun at its own fantasy-fairytale movies. The story was self-aware and wholly whimsical while turning just about every trope in the book on its head. On the surface level, Enchanted is entirely different from Netflix's Wednesday, but bear with us a moment on the comparison.
Despite the similar titles, Ella Enchanted and Enchanted are completely unrelated. The former was a 2004 fantasy film starring Anne Hathaway, based on the 1997 novel by Gail Carson Levine. Hathaway was recently reported to be executive producing an Ella Enchanted TV show, which will reboot the story and more faithfully adapt Levine's book by placing the titular character, Ella (like Cinderella), cursed with the "gift" of obedience, in a boarding school setting—just like Wednesday. It's an intriguing idea, and another project to place Disney on the fantasy map.
Disney Is Rapidly Becoming The New Home Of Fantasy Shows On Streaming
The original Ella Enchanted movie wasn't technically a Disney Studios film like Enchanted was. Instead, it was distributed by Miramax Films, which is now owned by Disney. This is why the upcoming TV show adaptation will be a solid fixture of Disney+ once it officially arrives. As it is, the Ella Enchanted TV show will be joining a slew of other fresh and exciting fantasy series on the platform, many of which are or will be based on older films and franchises (Disney or otherwise).
Disney+ has done remarkably well so far with its Percy Jackson TV show, which adapts the popular fantasy book series by Rick Riordan. The newer project, which premiered in 2025, is marked by improvement over 20th Century Fox's Percy Jackson movies (2010 and 2013), which Disney bought the rights to when it acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019. This opened the door to a much more faithful Percy Jackson adaptation, furthering Disney's hold on fantasy in general.
In addition to Percy Jackson and the upcoming Ella Enchanted TV show, Disney has a Casper the Friendly Ghost series on the way. This will be another project similar to Wednesday, capturing a much darker, edgier tone than previous staples in the franchise. It's just another example of how Disney is making moves to dominate fantasy TV, and assuming these are projects viewers want, it could very well succeed.
Does Ella Enchanted Really Need A 2020s Remake?
Given the success of Wednesday, it makes some sense that Disney would have its eyes on a grittier Casper TV show and a book-faithful adaptation of Ella Enchanted. Franchise reimaginings and magical boarding school-set stories obviously have a lot of potential right now. However, the age of reboots and remakes has brought the resounding question: "Is all this really necessary?"
The answer to this question depends entirely on what each new project offers that its predecessor did not. Disney+'s Percy Jackson series is a book-faithful reparation for all that the film franchise got wrong. Casper, like Wednesday, can reward horror fans with an homage to a franchise that likely served as an introduction to the genre. An Ella Enchanted TV show can achieve both goals by presenting a book-faithful story while maintaining the nostalgic connection to the 2007 film.
Of course, only time will tell if the new Ella Enchanted TV show will hold up in the same way. Still, after all that Disney has already achieved as the queen of the fantasy genre, we have every reason to hope.
English (US) ·