Everyone knows Gaston dies at the end of Beauty and the Beast, but what the original draft of the script for the recent remake presupposed was… maybe he doesn’t? Yes, strange as it sounds considering that the film was remarkably faithful to the 1992 animated classic, there were plans until “the 11th hour” for Gaston to survive and actually become the focus of a planned sequel.
Screenwriter Evan Spiliotopoulos, who co-wrote the film with Stephen Chbosky, spilled the beans at a Q&A that took place last Thursday. According to him, the finale of the movie would have seen Gaston not only survive, but be cursed by the very same enchantress who caused all this trouble in the first place.
Furthermore, the closing scenes would have Gaston “run off into the world as the new beast, whether to be redeemed or come back as a villain.” It’s an interesting twist on the ending, to be sure, and I have to admit there’s a certain poetic justice to it given that Gaston famously boasts about every last inch of him being covered in haiiiiiir.
On the downside, there’s a risk that it’d have felt suspiciously like Disney were trying to spin a franchise out of a much loved property. So far, the studio’s live-action resurrections of their 90s animated classics have been great, but it’d only take a couple of stumbles for that lustre to fade a bit.
Then again, given that Beauty and the Beast raked in a gargantuan $1.2 billion for Disney – and it was a February release, no less – the execs might be wishing they’d plumped for that sequel hook after all. Who knows, maybe a little bit of suspension of disbelief and Gaston could return from the dead with a whole new set of problems (and teeth).