D23Expo: ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ First Look Takes Flight

David Lowery wowed us with these beautifully composed shots of the north western portion of North America in his live-action adaptation of Pete’s Dragon. But that film put a different twist on a familiar story. One that was quite refreshing. But it looks like his take on Peter Pan & Wendy intends to stay faithful to the original, while also adding some new content by expanding on the Peter Pan and Captain Hook dynamic.

“So it’s been really amazing to be able to play Wendy and Disney has worked very hard to give her a lot more depth and a lot more characters,” Ever Anderson who plays Wendy said.

“I was mostly very excited to you know have the honor of being able to take on because it is huge,” Alyssa Wapanatâhk who plays Tiger Lily said.

“I definitely think audiences recognize that rivalry that people have known for so many years,” Alexander Molony, who plays Peter Pan said. “It’s just so much more fleshed out. But it’s still the same sort of cat and mouse game in jokes that they have. audiences love fight scenes. I mean, I had so much fun going on with us.”

Jude Law, who plays Captain Hook added, “We got to we got to mine their backstory a little more you understand a little more about that parts and a past where they would possibly want to go there’s still as Alec said, a great rivalry and a great physical rivalry, the fighting and the familiarity of fighting this sort of gamesmanship is very present. And for me, you know, playing the good guy. It was, it was particularly nice to finally layer in that understanding of who and why Captain Hook is so iconic.”

In the trailer we overhear Captain Hook asking Wendy why she came to Neverland. It’s at this point we see that Wendy meets the Lost Boys – and girls — for the first time. The group is the ragtag group of misfits who live for danger and adventure. And they find plenty of that when they cross swords with Captain Hook.

The tailer then takes us to a shot of Wendy Darling, Michael and John joining Peter Pan on a flight through London, with a little help from Tinker Bell (Yara Shahidi). From there, they land on one of the hands of Big Ben, before launching themselves off of it and flying into Neverland. The sequence itself, because it’s live-action and has a number of different visual effects, looks magical and is a sight to behold. Which makes the fact that its having its debut on Disney+ a little bit disappointing. That said, there’s still plenty of excitement to be had in this film. Namely the fact that Lowery is back behind the camera shooting the film. Again, if you liked Pete’s Dragon, you are going to love the shot compositions for Peter Pan and Wendy.

Peter Pan and Wendy also stars Molly Parker, Alan Tudyk, and Jim Gaffigan. It debuts exclusively on Disney+ in 2023.