New Show Watch: Down the Rabbit Hole to ABC’s Wonderland

ABC is prepping Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, a spin-off of the hit fairy tale series.

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland stars Sophie Lowe as Alice, who begins the story as a patient in a psychiatric hospital.  She’s told her doctors fanciful stories of Wonderland — the invisible Cheshire Cat, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the White Rabbit, and the genie named Cyrus (Peter Gadiot), with whom she fell in love … but who she has lost.  They are convinced she is a delusional young woman.

But then the Rabbit (voiced by John Lithgow) and the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha, from the U.K. version of Being Human) turn up to spring Alice, telling her that her love is still alive.

Wonderland has been set to lead off ABC’s schedule for the important Thursday night block, airing at 8/7c this fall.  The original Once Upon A Time remains in the Sunday 8/7c time slot for its third season.

There’s no immediate connection between Wonderland and its predecessor, although the fantasy world has been featured a few times on Once.  It’s the home of Jefferson (the Mad Hatter), and was once visited by Regina — whose mother Cora (Barbara Hershey) was once the land’s Queen of Hearts.  Some character crossovers are certainly possible, though Wonderland is set in Victorian Era (1800s) London — while Once is in the present-day.

UPDATE: EW reports that the first episode of the show will start in Storybrooke. How that works for the story remains to be seen. A full episode has yet to be shot, as ABC gave the series a go-ahead based on 19 minutes of test footage.

Check out the extended preview from ABC, clocking in at three and a half minutes:

Here’s how the network describes the show:

In Victorian England, the young and beautiful Alice (Sophie Lowe) tells a tale of a strange new land that exists on the other side of a rabbit hole. An invisible cat, a hookah smoking caterpillar and playing-cards that talk are just some of the fantastic things she’s seen during this impossible adventure. Surely this troubled girl must be insane, and her doctors aim to cure her with a treatment that will make her forget everything. Alice seems ready to put it all behind her, especially the painful memory of the genie she fell in love with and lost forever — the handsome and mysterious Cyrus (Peter Gadiot). But deep down Alice knows this world is real, and just in the nick of time the sardonic Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha) and the irrepressible White Rabbit (John Lithgow) arrive to save her from a doomed fate.

Together the trio will take a tumble down the rabbit hole to this Wonderland where nothing is impossible. “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” stars Sophie Lowe (“Beautiful Kate”) as Alice, Michael Socha (“This Is England”) as Knave of Hearts, Peter Gadiot (“The Forbidden Girl”) as Cyrus, Emma Rigby (“Hollyoaks”) as Queen of Hearts and John Lithgow (“3rd Rock from the Sun”) as the voice of the White Rabbit. “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (“Once Upon a Time”), who serve as executive producers. Steve Perlman and Zack Estrin also serve as executive producers, and the pilot was directed by Ralph Hemecker. “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” is produced by ABC Studios.

Stick with SciFi Stream as the new fall season draws closer!  We’ll have more coverage of Once Upon A Time In Wonderland in the weeks to come.