Tangled: The Series

**Tangled: The Series** (known as **Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure** from Season 2) is an American television series created by Shane Prigmore and Chris Sonnenburg. It is based on the 2010 film Tangled. The series premiered on March 10, 2017 and ran for three seasons until March 1, 2020.

## Plot

Six months after escaping Mother Gothel and reuniting with her birth parents, King Frederic and Queen Arianna of Corona, Princess Rapunzel is unable to properly adjust due to her father's constant protection. When she and her handmaiden Cassandra sneak out of the castle, they come upon some black rock spikes that magically restores Rapunzel's long blonde hair. Rapunzel, Cassandra, Eugene Fitzherbert, Pascal the chameleon, Maximus the horse, and a young alchemist named Varian uncover the mystery of her hair's return and its connection to the black rocks growing around Corona. Eventually, Rapunzel learns that Sundrop Flower's power resides in her with the black rocks directing her to the Dark Kingdom.

The second season centres around Rapunzel's group traveling to the Dark Kingdom while accompanied by Lance, Hook Foot, and Shorty and joined by the mysterious sword-wielding Adira of the Dark Kingdom. The group soon learn that the rocks are created by the Sundrop's counterpart: The Moonstone Opal. During the journey, Rapunzel gets the chance to explore the world and learns the origins of the Sundrop and Moonstone as two halves of an ancient power seeking to be re-joined. At the end of the season, Cassandra betrays Rapunzel and absorbs the Moonstone's power for herself.

The third and final season involves Rapunzel returning to Corona to act as queen upon finding out that her parents were overthrown, whilst simultaneously dealing with the threat of Cassandra and Zhan Tiri, an ancient demon that plots on using the Moonstone and Sundrop's power to take over and destroy Corona.

## Cast and Characters

### Returning

* Mandy Moore as Rapunzel
* Zachary Levi as Eugene "Flynn Rider" Fitzherbert
* Dee Bradley Baker as Pascal / Maximus
* Jeffrey Tambor as Big Nose
* Paul F. Tompkins as Shorty
* M. C. Gainey as Captain of the Guard
* Clancy Brown as King Frederic
* Julie Bowen as Queen Arianna
* Charles Halford as Vladimir
* Steve Blum as Attila Buckethead
* Brad Garrett as Hook Hand

### Introduced

* Eden Espinosa as Cassandra
* Jeff Ross as Hook Foot
* Jeremy Jordan as Varian
* Vivian Vencer and Ruby Jay as Angry and Red
* Jonathan Banks as Quirin
* Kelly Hu as Adira
* Bruce Campbell as King Edmund
* Timothy Dalton as Lord Demanitus
* Jennifer Veal as Zhan Tiri
* Yvonne Strahovski as Stalyan
* Gina Torres as Queen of Ingvarr
* James Monroe Iglehart as Lance Strongbow
* Richard Kind as Uncle Monty
* Sean Hayes and Diedrich Bader as Pete and Stan
* Peter MacNicol as Nigel the Advisor
* Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Xavier
* Pat Carroll / Susan Blakeslee as Old Lady Crowley
* Carol Kane as Madame Canardist
* Britt Robertson as Vex
* Katy Mixon as Seraphina
* Kathy Najimy as Mother
* Khary Payton as Kai
* Chris Diamantopoulos as Brock Thunderstrike
* Betsy Sodaro as Clementine
* Artemis Pebdani as Creighton
* Kim Coates as Hector

## Episodes

See Also: List of Tangled: The Series Episodes

 2 | 21
 3 | 17

## Cancelled Spin-off

Shortly following the series finale of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, series' storyboard artist Kaitlyn Ritter revealed that she and Anna Lencioni had pitched an idea for a spin-off focusing on Varian titled Varian and the Seven Kingdoms. The series saw Varian learning that his mother, Ulla, was an alchemist and sets out on a journey to search for her after discovering her almanac. He teams up with three other young heroes named Princess Nuru, Yong and Hugo to learn the seven alchemical stages of transformation and collect a totem for each so as to be reunited with his mother while also evading her former partner Donella who wants the totems for herself. Varian would have also encountered his long lost cousins who shared his scientific fascinations. Storylines would have revolved around Hugo being a hired agent of Donella who later turns on her and Ulla revealed to be the villain of the series with Varian trying to turn her good based on his own personal experience. According to Ritter, while Disney was enthusiastic with the project and even received support and encouragement, they ultimately passed as they felt that a series that focused on a Rapunzel-related character without Rapunzel would be risky. Disney even suggested changing Varian to a completely original character so as to be an original brand, but Ritter and Lencioni refused.

## Production

On June 3, 2015, Disney Channel announced that the series was in development. On February 15, 2017, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a second season ahead of the series premiere. The series features new songs from Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Menken previously scored the original film, while he and Slater wrote the film's songs.

On May 31, 2018, it was announced that the second season would premiere on June 24, 2018, and that the series had also been renewed for a third season. Additionally, it was also announced that the series would be re-titled Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.

Despite the name of the series being changed prior to the release of the second season, all seasons of the series are listed as Tangled: The Series then Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure on Disney+.

## Release

On March 10, 2017, Tangled began airing on the Disney Channel. It was titled Tangled: The Series for its first season. On May 21, Tangled began airing on the Disney Channel in Southeast Asia. Then on September 12 of the same year, it began airing on the Disney Channel for Latin America. Also in 2017 it aired as part of the Disney Channel Saturday morning block, then named "Get Animated."

### Home Media

Tangled: Before Ever After and the first four Tangled: Short Cuts were released on DVD on April 11, 2017. Tangled: Queen for a Day was released on DVD on December 12, 2017. The entire series was released on Blu-ray on December 28, 2021 as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive.

## Reception

Reviews of the show varied. Klaudia Amenábar of The Mary Sue described the show positively, stating that it has "relatable themes" for Millennials and those in Generation Z, focusing on topics like emotional abuse, trauma, deciding who you are, friendship, and creating relationships. Amenábar also argued that Rapunzel's friend, Cassandra "Cass" is "extremely gay-coded sword lesbian... a badass Sword Lesbian... with sheer gay energy." She further talked about the "healthy and supportive masculinity" of Eugene, called it more Millennial sitcom than anything else, and stated that it parses out "uniquely adult issues for kids." Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media made a similar argument, although she focused on whether was appealing to kids and families. She noted that there is romantic chemistry between Rapunzel and Eugene, the prevalence of frightening moments, and argued that kids of a younger age may not have "the attention span to see it through," while praising the fun character adventures. Furthermore, she stated that series is episodic, better suited "for a slightly older audience" and is good "family fare." On the other hand, Ian Goodwillie of CBR criticized that the series is aimed at kids, deviates from the fairy tale, has an overbearing king, said it deviates "from the animated movie it's based on" while following a classic good vs. evil conflict, disliked the evil demon which is the villain. Even so, he praised that the same actors who voiced Eugene and Rapunzel in the movie came back for the series, called the series fun, said that the movie set a strong foundation for the series, stated that the series had an interesting story, and loved two minor characters (Pascal and Maximus).