This new Peter Pan prequel sounds much bleaker than the rest

By Danette Chavez | May 12, 2016 | 1:40pm

Aux Features Film

It was only a month ago that we reported that another Peter Pan prequel was in the works, less than a year after Joe Wright’s Pan fell flat on its face. Now a different brave soul wants to tell the story of the boy before he found Neverland, back to the days of his childhood with Alice, the girl in the pinafore who eventually ends up in Wonderland. That’s the premise of Come Away, a new prequel/bit of fan fiction that was announced today. According to Deadline, the film will be helmed by Brenda Chapman, who co-directed Brave and previously worked on animated features like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Little Mermaid, and Chicken Run, among others.

Come Away imagines a world where Peter and Alice are siblings who face some pretty harsh realities after their older brother dies. In addition to dealing with their own grief, as well as all of the additional chores, they try to prevent their parents from falling into “downward spirals of despair” after his death. Written by Marissa Kate Goodhill, the fantasy drama will explore why two grief-stricken, virtually abandoned children would want to disappear into their own imaginations, but we think it’s kind of answered its own question there.