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‘Princess Power’ Introduces Marvelously Multi-Dimensional Young Royals

The idea of what it means to be a princess has completely changed over the past 15 years. Princesses are no longer waiting to be awakened or saved. They’re determining their own paths, writing their own stories and definitely not looking for a rescuer. The new Netflix series Princess Power celebrates the newest vision of what it means to be a princess as it follows the lives of four princesses and their adventures together as they work to solve problems and overcome obstacles.

The preschool show is based on the book series Princesses Wear Pants, which is co-authored by Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie and clinical psychologist Allison Oppenheim. The book, released in 2017, became a New York Times bestseller and then was followed up with Princesses Save the World in 2018. The show was developed by veteran animation writer/producer Elise Allen. Executive producers on the show include Guthrie, as well as Matthew Berkowitz, Kristin Cummings and Jennifer Twiner McCarron from Atomic Cartoons and Drew Barrymore, Ember Truesdell and Nancy Juvonen at Flower Films.

Allen, who has a daughter of her own, loved the idea of a group of girls, who were each very different, learning how to become a team and work together to solve any challenge that life presented them. Each princess comes from one of four major fruit kingdoms:  Kiwi, Blueberry, Pineapple and Raspberry. Allen also loved that the series would focus on the idea that being a princess means helping others and the world around them.

Unforgettable Princesses

“All the princesses have such strong personalities,” says Allen, executive producer and show-runner on the series. “Penny (Pineapple) comes from a very whimsical place, but also she’s scientific-minded, but she’ll come up with these kinds of wacky scientific ideas. And her mind is always bouncing from one thing to another. She’s utterly positive. Whereas you take somebody like Rita (Raspberry), and she is wildly dramatic and everything is if it’s bad, it’s a disaster of epic proportions.”

She adds, “Then, you have Kira (Kiwi), who’s very involved with animals. She has studied them. It’s important to her. She has a very solid and grounded personality. She just has this breadth of knowledge that the other girls don’t have. I would say with Bea (Blueberry), it’s act first think later. She’s all about kinetic action and she’s the sportiest of the girls. You might try to tell her to do something, but she’s already done it.”

The voice cast includes well-established actors and rising stars. Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, who also appears in Avatar: The Way of Water, is the voice of Princess Rita Raspberry. Dana Heath stars as Kira Kiwi, Madison Calderon is Princess Bea Blueberry, Luna Bella Zamora voices Princess Penny Pineapple and Ciera Payton is Queen Katia. Rita Moreno will perform as Great Aunt Busyboots.

Allen came onto the project in early 2020 when so much of the development process took place over Zoom. The animation crew was entirely based at Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, while most of the writers were in Los Angeles and New York. Despite not being able to have the kind of in-person meetings that creatives usually love, they were able to focus on bringing out the personalities of the main characters and give them each a distinct look, which would hopefully resonate with their young audience.

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