'The Adventures of Snow White & Rose Red' Amazon TV Series in Development

Looks like this fairy tale series is still in the early stages of production. It's set to debut on Amazon in December 2017.

Here's the blurb and storyline from IMDB:

'The Adventures of Snow White and Rose Red' is a magical live action fairy tale about two girls who live in an enchanted forest and have adventures with their fairy tale friends.

Snow and Rose are secret princess sisters who live in hiding with their surrogate parents, a friendly woodcutter and his wife, in their cottage in the woods. They have many adventures with various fairytale friends, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and Cinderella. 

And here's the casting call for the film, (on March 18th), which outlines the characters they're looking to include:

Prince Ferdinand 8-13 yrs - Mother 35-50 yrs - Father 40 - 60 yrs - Gnome 6-12 yrs, or little person - Door Mouse 4-7 yrs - March Hair 10-90 yrs - Queen of Hearts 5-10 yrs. OR 30+ yrs - Fairy Queen 16+ yrs - 4 Little Fairies 6 - 12 yrs 4'10 or under with ballet training - Little Red Riding Hood 6 - 10 yrs - Grandma 60+ yrs - Rapunzel 16+ yrs - Wizard 20+ yrs - Cinderella 16 - 30 yrs - Prince 18-30 yrs - 

We will admit we are a little disappointed to find the sisters already princesses, as well as joining an 'Into The Woods'-like cast of popular fairy tale characters. We're also a little disappointed that one of the few positive and strong single parents in fairy tales will now just be part of a nondescript sort of couple.

         

The fairy tale has so much richness on its own it really doesn't need to add 'well known' characters. Just check out the fan-made collages above. You can't help but be intrigued by the image combinations. We're not suggesting family film makers take on Margo Lanagan's critically acclaimed retelling, Tender Morsels, but it's quite an adventure on its own. This fairy tale has been filmed in Europe at least twice - 1955 & 1978 - and dubbed into English, during the lengthy hey day of family fantasy films in Europe, as well a a couple of more recent foreign animated versions.

All you really need to pique interest in this tale is the image of the girls, sisters, letting a talking bear into their cottage in mid-Winter. Between the push for more sibling girl-power stories, thanks to Frozen, and the The Beauty and the Beast links with the 'prince enchanted as bear' there to take advantage of, there's a lot to recommend sticking with this fairy tale's bones, instead of trying to assimilate it into a mash-up.


That said, it's very difficult to judge what it will truly be like from little bits of information. Perhaps the elements we're less keen on really have a much smaller role, and will be used for the traditional fairy tale marketing strategies, a la Once Upon A Time.

Either way, it's interesting to see Amazon delving into this. Clearly they think there's a market for this fairy tale series, which makes us happy! We're looking forward to watching this develop to see which direction it goes.

The Adventures of Snow White and Rose Red is being created by the team at Trident Fantasy Films.