BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Comic-Con: 5 Things You Need to Know About the New CW Series

While the vast majority of Thursday’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST session at Comic-Con was spent screening the pilot, attendees were able to find a few additional things out about the new CW series. Take a look at five of the highlights from the panel…

This beauty is no damsel in distress:

The CW’s description of the series starts off by highlighting Detective Catherine Chandler’s toughness, so it should be no surprise that Kristin Kreuk (Catherine) was quick to praise how strong her character is.

“She’s very capable,” Kreuk noted. “It’s very important for her not to be a victim of circumstance after her mother was killed in front of her.”

Is Vincent the only “beast” out there?

While there is a chemical reason for why Vincent is so “beastly” (and no, we’re not going to spoil it here), that does raise the question of whether there are other creatures out there like Vincent.

“There’s only one beauty and one beast,” executive producer Sherri Cooper said, but the possibility does remain for more creatures to be discovered later. Jay Ryan (Vincent) said he’d love for there to be a female version of a beast, which he pointed out could be possible based on one of the flashbacks in the pilot.

Will work for cupcakes:

Not only were there two potential BEAUTY AND THE BEAST pilots in production this past season (the other one which was based at ABC didn’t move forward), but it seems the other series was also interested in Kreuk as a potential lead. So how did The CW’s version win her over? Cupcakes.

“We wooed her with cupcakes,” executive producer Jennifer Levin admitted. “We showed up at her agent’s office.” (And yes, they did wonder if they were a little crazy trying to bribe her, but apparently it worked!)

How will the show balance the serialized element versus the “case of the week”?

Whenever a new potential procedural debuts, the question almost always becomes how much they’ll balance the overarching mythology with standalone cases that pop up every week and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is no different.

“We’re finding that balance right now,” executive producer Brian Peterson said. “We want to focus on what an amazing detective Catherine is.”

Will any of Kreuk’s SMALLVILLE costars ever appear on her new show?

When a fan questioned whether there might be a SMALLVILLE reunion on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (executive producers Peterson and Kelly Souders also worked on the former CW series), no one would rule that out.

“Wouldn’t that be great?” Kreuk said. “If we could get someone to do it, I think that would be fun. i think some of them would do it.”

Souders added that would be fun to see those actors in a different role, so I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to see if that ever comes to fruition!

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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST debuts on The CW on Thursday, October 11 at 9 PM. Will you be tuning in?

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