Netflix’s 'Kpop Demon Hunters' Replacement Reimagines a Classic Disney Princess

Alyce Tzue always loved fairy tales, but growing up as the only Asian kid in a homogeneous community in New Jersey, she worried she would never find her happily ever after. Instead of seeing herself in Cinderella, Tzue wondered why her stepsisters didn’t get their own magic. Now she’s teaming up with Raya and the Last Dragon co-director John Ripa to tell their story as co-director of the Netflix animated movie Steps.

"There really is no one Cinderella story," Ripa told Polygon in an interview at Annecy Festival. "A Chinese version introduced the stepmother, and the Italian version introduced the stepsisters."

Steps brings all that history together and gives it a modern update.

"There are certain things the audience wants to see. We were able to take some of these iconic canon moments and give it a little twist and show it from every perspective."

Steps follows Cinderella’s misunderstood stepsister Lilith (Ali Wong). After watching the Fairy Godmother (Bette Midler) give Cinderella (Amanda Seyfried) a dress, carriage, and glass slippers, Lilith tries to get some magic of her own. She accidentally turns her sister Margot (Stephanie Hsu) into a frog, causing chaos in the kingdom.

Turning the fairytale's traditional villain into an unconventional protagonist isn't just a fun twist for Tzue. It's also personal.

“She comes into this fairytale world of hope with lofty dreams of being able to live harmoniously with everyone,” Tzue says. “The sense of being initially rejected deeply resonates with me. I would say Lilith is braver than I ever was. She has this rebellious attitude, but, of course, you find that spiky exterior is just a defense mechanism. I had my own defense mechanism of retreating into my books and art. She’s kind of aspirational. I wish I was a little bit more like her when I was younger.”

Image: Netflix Animation Studios

Cinderella and Lilith then have to team up to undo the spell and stop the scheming mean girl Priscilla (Nikki Glaser) from taking over the kingdom.

“Priscilla is someone who wishes she was like Cinderella,” Tzue says. “In a kingdom that elevates just one sort of symbol of perfection, that can create someone like Lilith, who’s the outcast, and someone like Priscilla, who is driven by the sense of insecurity to kind of be evil.”

Image: Netflix Animation Studios

The film’s look is inspired by the French Rococo movement and the French version of Cinderella, Cendrillon. It uses a pastel color palette to represent conformity, but Cinderella and Lilith encounter bolder, more natural colors as they explore outside the borders of the kingdom. Cinderella’s stepsisters are typically described as ugly, and Tzue avoids narrow interpretations of what beauty is.

“We want to lean into a diversity of design in the female characters to make sure they don’t all have the same face shape or the same body shape,” she says. “We’ve been very conscious to make sure that the designs reflect the diversity of their personalities.”

“We need even more stories about sisterhood”

Image: Netflix Animation Studios

Ripa was a story artist on Frozen, which also subverted the classic Disney princess trope by focusing on sisterhood over romance. This made the two co-directors a natural fit.

“I'm a huge fan of Frozen,” Tzue says. “I wouldn't say it's a direct inspiration, because my hope is that there can be as many movies as we'd like about female friendships. If there are comparisons, it may just mean that we need even more stories about sisterhood.”

Netflix already proved that demand with the enormous success of Kpop Demon Huntersin 2025. Steps could appeal to the same fans with a rich soundtrack that mixes needle drops and original songs, giving the film a contemporary feel that further contrasts with the typical fairy tale.

“We are huge supporters of the creators of Kpop Demon Hunters,” Tzue says. “We were working in parallel, so we’re very happy for them. I feel personally very supported by Netflix as a filmmaker working on their own project. I don’t feel pressured to be a Kpop Demon Hunters because it wouldn’t serve the story.”

Image: Netflix Animation Studios

Ripa and Tzue hope the film’s themes of empathy, inclusion, and belonging will resonate with viewers.

“If we can inspire even one person to stand up for someone that feels different, we will have done our jobs.” Tzue says.

Steps premieres on Netflix on Nov. 20.