'Sofia the First: Royal Magic' brings back a beloved princess, along with new friends and a foe
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Eight years after going off the air, “Sofia the First” is getting another opportunity to find out what being royal is all about.Disney’s first preschool princess returns for a new set of adventures in “Sofia the First: Royal Magic” premiering Monday on Disney Jr.The following day, eight episodes will stream on Disney+.The sequel series finds Sofia — once again voiced by Ariel Winter — leaving home to attend the Charmswell School for Royal Magic.
Rapunzel makes a guest appearance in the premiere episode and Moana, Jasmine, Cinderella, Aurora and Elena of Avalor will all stop by over the course of the first season.According to Disney, “Sofia the First” still holds the record for the top three cable TV telecasts for girls ages 2 to 5 with more than 3 billion hours watched since the series premiered.The trailer for “Sofia the First: Royal Magic” was viewed 7.54 million times on social media in the first 24 hours after it was released.
The show’s theme song, which has been updated for the new series, remains popular on TikTok among teens who first watched the show as preschoolers.Series creator and executive producer Craig Gerber says the show’s tone is one of the reasons for its enduring popularity.“The charm, the humor and the storytelling was simple enough for [children] to understand, but sophisticated enough to stick with them as they were growing out of the key demographic,” he says.
“They remember [the show] very fondly and it becomes a source of comfort for them.”Originally there were discussions to have a spin-off series with a whole new set of characters going to Royal Prep, the school Sofia graduated from in the first series.But soon Gerber realized that a sequel series was the way to go because of the love for the character.
“It became clear that the real exciting part of coming back to this world would be to follow the further adven...