"Tiana" Musical Series Not Moving Forward

Walt Disney Animation Studios has decided not to move forward with "Tiana", an animated musical series offshoot of the "The Princess and the Frog" movie set for Disney+.

While Disney did not comment on the series cancellation, sources confirmed Monday that going forward the animation studio will be providing long-form content for Disney+.

With a Tiana original special now the focus, it seems that creatively a Tiana series had been going nowhere fast for several years. That creative funk was why all that was unveiled over the past four years was a single image from the proposed series.

The project was first announced in December 2020 and was expected to feature Anika Noni Rose reprising her role as Tiana from the 2009 movie "The Princess and the Frog", which revolved around Disney’s first Black princess.

Set in New Orleans during the 1920s, the film tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing Prince Naveen, who has been turned into a frog by the evil voodoo witch doctor Facilier, Tiana becomes a frog as well and the two must find a way to turn human again before it is too late.

In addition to Rose, the movie starred Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Jim Cummings, Jennifer Cody, John Goodman, Keith David, Peter Bartlett, Jenifer Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, and Terrence Howard.

The movie was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and produced by Peter Del Vecho, from a screenplay co-written by Clements and Musker with Rob Edwards. Musker and Clements also co-wrote the story with writing duo Greg Erb and Jason Oremland.