Netflix is primed to create whole new generation of Winx Club fans with their upcoming teen fantasy series Fate: The Winx Saga, a live-action revival of the beloved Italian animated series set to arrive on the platform on January 22, 2021, TV Line reports. A minute-long teaser trailer for the show arrived the morning of December 10, courtesy of the company’s @NXOnNetflix Twitter account, which covers the platform’s genre offerings.
Fate: The Winx Saga will reportedly be a coming-of-age saga centered on five young women with magic powers who attend the Alfea College for Fairies and form the Winx Club, according to TV Line. The cast is led by Abigail Cowen (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Stranger Things), who plays the club’s courageous and selfless founder Blossom, TV Line reports. Blossom’s stylish roommate Stella will be played by Hannah van der Westhuysen (The Bay of Silence) and sensitive instrumental virtuoso Musa will be portrayed by Elisha Applebaum (Carly & Paolo), as reported by The Guardian.
The other two members of the Winx Club in Fate: The Winx Saga diverge from the cast of the first season of the original cartoon. Aisha, the athletic character to be played by Precious Mustapha (The Stranger), was technically the club’s sixth member. She first appears in the season two premiere of the animated series. Fate: The Winx Saga breaks entirely from the cartoon by omitting two key Winx Club members– soft-spoken Flora and brainy Tecna. In their place is Terra, played by Eliot Salt (Normal People), who The Guardian describes as a “grounded and chatty earth fairy.”
Showrunner Brian Young (The Vampire Diaries) told The Guardian about how important it was for him to make his take on the source material come from an authentic emotional place. “[I was] trying to figure out how we ground this show in real character moments, things that any audience member can relate to… It is very easy to spiral off into absurdity with stuff like this,” he explained. According to The Guardian, Young allegedly drew on what he gleaned from his own childhood experiences with homophobia to settle on a theme of embracing uniqueness: “When I was that age, I was coming out and I think that’s a really important journey… What makes you feel different… makes you special.”
All six episodes of Fate: The Winx Saga come to Netflix on January 22, 2021. The first four seasons of the Winx Club animated series, as well as season seven, are free to watch on the show’s official YouTube channel. Seasons five and six, the first batch of episodes produced in cooperation with Nickelodeon, are grouped under the title Winx Club: Beyond Believix, and are available to purchase through Amazon Prime Video. Additionally, two-season spin-off series, titled World of Winx, can be viewed exclusively on Netflix.