'Once Upon a Time' creators delving back into fairy tales with 'Epic' pilot pickup

Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, co-creators of the popular series Once Upon A Time, are delving into fairy tales again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC has greenlit a pilot for a series called Epic, described as “a romantic anthology that reinvents fairy tales for a new audience.”

Epic will be a drama, and — like Once Upon A Time before it — will also focus on Disney fairy tale properties. It’s not clear what fairy tales specifically will be the focus of the series, but given it's an anthology, it will likely include a sampling from Disney’s roster.

The new series also brings Horowitz and Kitsis back to ABC, where they have an overarching contract with the network until at least 2022. While the deal was signed back in 2018, this is the first time the duo will be back directly running a show at ABC since Once Upon A Time ended in May 2018.  

In between Once Upon A Time and Epic, however, the duo worked on Apple’s Amazing Stories anthology, stepping in when original showrunner Bryan Fuller dropped out due to creative differences.  Brigitte Hales — who worked with Horowitz and Kitsis on Once Upon A Time and Amazing Stories — is also on board to executive produce as well as write the pilot script for ABC’s Epic.

No news on when the Epic pilot will be filmed, much less on whether the anthology will then get picked up for a full series run. In the meantime, fairy tale fans can (re)watch the seven seasons of Once Upon a Time on Disney+.