“W.I.T.C.H” Live-Action Adaptation In Early Development For Disney+
Back in the early 2000’s, Disney released an animated series called “W.I.T.C.H”, which was based on the Italian comic book series of the same name and told the story five girls – Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin – who call themselves the Guardians and they have magical powers over the classical elements water, fire, earth, air and quintessence.
The Guardians must save Meridian from the evil sorcerer Phobos and Cedric, who are searching for Phobos’ sister, the long-lost princess of Meridian and true heir to the throne. They later find her, and the Guardians then set about saving her from Phobos. When Meridian is freed from evil and a true heir takes the throne, a new mysterious sorceress named Nerissa frees Phobos’ top henchmen and reforms them as the Knights of Vengeance. Once the Guardians learn more about the sorceress and her evil plan of reuniting former Guardians, they are able to defeat the Knights only to have more powerful Knights, in addition to the former Guardian,s attack them.
The French-made series was initially released in late 2004 and ran for 52 episodes over two seasons. It aired as part of the Disney Jetix block of programming.
During a recent appearance on the Radical Retro Rewind Podcast, Trey Callaway shared some details on how he got involved in the creation of the first season of the animated series, “W.I.T.C.H.” and he revealed Disney has been having meetings with the creators of the “W.I.T.C.H” franchise about a potential live-action adaptation for Disney+.
Currently, the “W.I.T.C.H” series isn’t available to stream on Disney+, so hopefully, if this project does happen, those original animated episodes will be released on Disney+ to help build excitement for a potential new series.
Roger’s Take: It’s important to note that Disney has not officially announced anything, and this project might not move forward or be years away from hitting our screens. Often, these early talks lead nowhere, and comments made publically by those trying to get the project off the ground do so in order to get more fan interest on social media to try to move the needle to show executives that there is interest in a revival. I would very much put this project in that category, as just having talks about doing a revial doesn’t necessarily mean it’s happening.
Would you like to see a live-action version of “W.I.T.C.H”? Let me know on social media!
