Luke Evans insists Beauty and the Beast prequel series is 'going to happen'

Luke Evans has assured fans that the Beauty and the Beast prequel series is still on the cards.

The actor, who played Gaston in the 2017 live-action remake of Disney's animated classic, was due to front a Disney+ series alongside his co-star Josh Gad as LeFou, however, the project was paused indefinitely earlier this year.

While speaking to Entertainment Weekly on Thursday, Luke gave fans an update on the show.

"It's been put on hold. We just wanna make sure that it is absolutely the best it can be, and if that means we just have to wait a little longer to finesse certain pieces of it, then that's what we're going to do because this is a very important legacy," he explained. "We want to honour these characters with the best story we can possibly deliver. It's just on hold."

The actor continued, "It is gonna happen. We're very excited about it. At some point in the near future, it will happen."

Luke also spoke about the inspiration for the series.

"There's so many things about these two characters that we don't really know, about their origin stories," he said. "Were they always these creatures or were they different? It's a bit like, no one's born bad."

Gad also told Collider this week that he's still interested in the project and hopes they get to make it. He suggested that the series became too ambitious and expensive.

"Its ambition ran away with it. There are ways that we can tell this story and live up to the promise of what it can be, but also do it in a way that won’t break the bank," he stated.