Disney's quest to find a new streaming spin on movies and shows from its back catalogue continues unabated. This time, the target is 1975's Escape To Witch Mountain, which is returning as a show that is hitting the pilot stage, and has Bryce Dallas Howard aboard to star alongside Isabel Gravitt, Levi Miller, Bianca “b” Norwood and Jackson Kelly.
The new show will follow two teens that develop strange abilities and discover their sleepy suburb may not be as idyllic as it seems. Which is a take on the film, adapted itself from a 1968 novel. It has seen various stages of the Disney process, including a couple of sequels, a 1995 TV remake and a movie reboot called Race To Witch Mountain that starred Dwayne Johnson.
Howard will star in the pilot as Audrey, described as Tia’s devoted and loving mother. Her husband died from a mental illness and she tries to reassure a fretful Tia that she shows no sign of following her father’s dark spiral. A warm mama bear type, but like everyone in this town, not everything is as it seems.
Gravitt will play Tia, described as a straight-A student who’s regarded by her classmates as ‘perfect,’ although she regards herself as flawed. Tia has ‘hallucinations’ in which people around her step outside their living bodies and voice their deepest, darkest fears and desires and rages.
Miller will play Ben, a troubled teen who makes ends meet by writing papers for other students but he’s got a hot temper and if he slugs another student, he’ll be expelled. He’s recently made a troubling discovery about himself, he can force others in his vicinity to move according to his will and there’s something drawing him inexplicably in the direction of Tia.
Norwood will play Corey, Ben’s closest friend, an outsider with tattoos. Corey is a very mature teen who comes across older than they are.
Kelly stars as Peter, Tia’s closest male friend. Peter is lovesick on the subject of Tia, but she’s unaware of his charms, and equally unaware of his devotion. But when Tia expresses her concerns about the seemingly impossible happenings around them, she learns that Peter’s observant, cautious nature might be an asset in figuring out the mystery around them.
Travis Fickett and Terry Matalas co-wrote the pilot and will run the show alongside Augustine Frizzell, who is directing and Producing the pilot.