There’s a new magic school on the block, and it’s home to some very familiar characters. While the distinguished Alfea Academy is the central location for Netflix’s new series, Fate: The Winx Saga, plenty of viewers were already dreaming of enrolling prior to the series’ release. How? It turns out, the new show is actually a remake of an old fave. As the spell of nostalgia started washing over you, you probably snapped out of it quick when you realized a few faces were missing. So uh, where Are Tecna and Flora in Fate: The Winx Saga? The fairies seemed to have vanished.
ICYMI, Winx Saga is actually a live-action reimagining of an Italian animated series called Winx Club. The series ran for four years in the early 2000s before being picked up by Nickelodeon, where it had an eight-season stint. Which means many fans were already super familiar with the plot and the characters heading into Netflix’s reimagining.
What they weren’t expecting, however, were the major creative changes that came with the retelling of Winx. Not only is the 2021 version much darker and, ahem, sexier than the original (probably because Winx‘s creator is Brian Young, who also produced The Vampire Diaries), but it’s missing a few key characters as well.
The new Netflix series still follows Bloom (Abigail Cowen from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), a fire fairy who recently discovered her powers and enrolls at Alfea Academy to learn how to harness her skills. It’s there that she meets her roommates/future besties, many of whom fans knew from Winx Club. Stella (Hannah van der Westhuysen), Aisha (Precious Mustapha), and Musa (Elisha Applebaum) where all part of the fairy crew Bloom rolled with in the original, but two key members — Flora and Tecna —are blatantly missing.
In Winx Saga, however, a new fairy named Terra was added as a key member of Bloom’s squad. And while the group has some of the magic the past Winx Club did, viewers accused the show of "whitewashing." Musa (who is East Asian in Winx Club) and Terra (who is reminiscent of the earth fairy named Flora in the cartoon) are both played by white actors.
On Jan 21, Cowen spoke to TheWrap, clearing up some of the confusion saying, "Flora is actually not in our series. I know that there is some confusion about that — in the first season, she’s not. Eliot’s character is actually Terra, who was created specifically for the show," she said. "If we are lucky enough to get a second season, I think Flora would be brought in." Which means there’s a chance the original group would be one step closer to getting back together.
If Flora is introduced, Cowen hopes the whitewashing concerns are addressed head-on. "I do think diversity both in front of and behind the camera is vital and much-needed throughout the industry and internationally. So I think it’s important that we are having these conversations.”
As of Jan. 25 there’s no news on a Season 2, so fans will just have to hang on to their fairy dust to see if Flora and Tecna make an appearance in Netflix’s reimagining.
Fate: The Winx Saga is streaming now on Netflix.
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