The first two chapters of the tie-in prequel novel about Tiger Lily are available to read on
Amazon. I've read them and I don't think there's much relevant new info about the film in them, but one detail it does reveal is that Tiger Lily's horse is called Pony. A fairy named Sashi and Gee, a boy from her tribe, are two of her best friends, but I doubt they'll appear in the movie. Her mother and grandmother are also featured in the text.
There's some new info too regarding her community's ability to being able to choose whether to grow up or not. Apparently, it's not a decision they only have to make once. Tiger Lily, for example, chose to grow up from a baby to a small child first, then from a small child to a bigger one and now she has to decide whether or not to turn into a young adult. We don't know if that aspect of them will be explored in the film, though, or if it's just part of this novel.
The book's foreword reveals Tiger Lily and her tribe are the original inhabitants of Neverland, which I guess makes sense, but personally, I never realized that before.
Speaking of Tiger Lily, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, the actress who plays her in the movie, has been doing press for several Native American media sites. Among other things, she said they the filmmakers took inspiration from her Cree heritage for the character and her tribe in the film:
Wapanatâhk’s Cree heritage provided inspiration for the character and her people in the film to ensure they are grounded in authenticity and specificity, the filmmakers said.
“The filmmakers were looking for somebody who was obviously authentic (and) who actually comes from Native lineage — somebody who's actually Indigenous,” Wapanatâhk told Native News Online during a video interview. “They wanted to correct things to make things right. When I saw that, that was like a really big point for me, I realized I wanted to be part of this. I want to help out and be that person to help correct this thing that's going on in the world.”
Wapanatâhk said the filmmakers were originally going to depict another tribe in the film, but as time went on, the movie’s director, David Lowery, began to ask her if she wanted to bring Cree history and culture into the film.
“Once I saw them bringing Cree culture into the film, I thought this is really everything for me. And it's gonna be everything for people to see this,” she said.
Source: https://www.nhonews.com/news/2023/mar/0 ... igenuity-/
