ABC ordered the Once Upon a Time spinoff Wonderland to series today based on a short presentation of five scenes filmed in Vancouver last month. The [Victorian England] story of Alice (Sophie Lowe) is of a girl who’s had a hard life but maintained a generous heart. A genie Cyrus (Peter Gadiot) is her love interest and the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha) sounds like the Wonderland-equivalent of Hook, described as a sardonic adventurer, man of action and loner. The White Rabbit (now voiced by John Lithgow not Paul Reubens) and the Queen of Hearts (Emma Rigby) are also part of the 13-episode limited series. And while we can expect to see cameos from the likes of Cora (Barbara Hershey) and her daughter Regina (Lana Parrilla), Wonderland will be a separate world from Once Upon a Time.
Fan fave Jane Espenson, who knows how to write kickass female characters after stints on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica and Once Upon a Time, is a consulting producer. And Zach Estrin (Prison Break) and Steve Perlman will run the show with Once Upon a Time showrunners Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
Update: ABC passed on pilot Big Thunder, a 19th century western based on a popular Disney ride, filmed mainly in Maple Ridge and Squamish.
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