It’s no secret that Hollywood is turning into reboots lately as Top Gun: Maverick dominates the box office charts in 2022 and the success that the Star Wars spin-off series has received. But during the recent D23 convention, it was announced that there will be another Peter Pan spin-off titled Peter Pan & Wendy.
This new Peter Pan spin-off will be released on Disney Plus in 2023, yet it was initially announced back in April 2016. According to the film’s IMDb page, it’s going to be a live-action adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic tale of a boy who wouldn’t grow up, and will star Alexander Molony as Peter Pan and Ever Anderson (Black Widow) as Wendy.
But, seeing as we’re in the year of 2022 and Disney constantly pumps out remakes and reboots of existing IP, do we really need another Peter Pan story?
Do we need another version of Peter Pan?
Here’s the thing, this isn’t the first Peter Pan spin-off that Disney has released. In 2002, a sequel to Disney’s first Peter Pan film, Peter Pan 2: Return to Never Land came out, where it told the story of Wendy’s daughter Jane and her journey to Never Land. Not to mention, shows like Once Upon A Time, released by ABC (and owned by the Walt Disney Company), retold Peter Pan’s tale in a new light. And let’s not forget the other Peter Pan stories that existed outside of Disney and the Tinkerbell series.
With that knowledge, it’s obvious that we don’t need another version of Peter Pan, let alone, to return to Never Land once again.
The story of Peter Pan was adapted multiple times before Disney got its hands on the content. It was originally a children’s character in a 1902 story, and then later received a stage play of its own in 1904. Most of Peter Pan’s story was about a boy who visits the children of a British family as he whisks them away to a magical land where they never have to grow up.
That plot however gets flipped on its head during season 3 of ABC’s Once Upon A Time. In the show, this young boy is depicted as a villain and is the father of the show’s anti-hero, Rumpelstiltskin. Meanwhile, Wendy was a captive of Pan’s rather than a friend.
In a report made by Variety, it was revealed that the film is going to expand on the backstories of existing characters such as Captain Hook. The article also pointed out that unlike the original film, where Wendy is somewhat the damsel in distress, in the remake, both she and Peter Pan will be equals.
And while the character itself has entered the public domain, it was reported by GOSH.org that the stage play and its stage adaptation will be copyright free by 2023 in the United States, meaning more opportunities to retell the classic tale.
So while the idea of another retelling of Peter Pan’s story might be unnecessary, especially in the year 2022, it has been proven time and time again that his story can be retold in a different light. From a fictional character to a young hero, to even a villain, there is room to retell this iconic tale.
So, do we need more reboots of Peter Pan? Probably not, seeing as there are too many at this point. But can his story be retold? Yes, 100 percent, definitely.
