Back in 2015, Kidscreen visited Cirque headquarters and spoke with Daniel Lamarre (president and CEO of Cirque du Soleil), Jacques Méthé, Elie Dekel, (president of Saban Brands) and Brian Casentini (Saban SVP of development and production) to answer a very important question: why pre-school animation?

When Cirque was initially exploring ways to bring the magic and emotion of its live shows to a larger audience through mass media, it kept coming back to animation for kids. "We've been toying with the idea of [animation for kids] for many years. We think it is the right way to attract a new demo," Lamarre said." It's very important to expand Cirque's target demo beyond those who can afford to go to its live shows in person."And when it came time to pinpoint a specific age group, Cirque and Saban both agreed that preschool was a sweet spot. "For the majority of the world, adults are the most aware of the Cirque brand," says Casentini. "So we felt that because moms and parents control the media preschool kids consume, launching a preschool brand first made a lot of sense."

In addition, Saban's global success with its own brands and Zweig's experience in developing and producing TV series were big factors in Cirque's final decision. "Bradley's openness to another creative process was a big factor for us," notes Méthé. "A lot of people when they interact with us see the surface, the acrobatics and colors. He cut straight to our DNA and values. He asked right away, ‘Who is Luna and what drives her?'"

With positive early reactions across the board from broadcasters at MIPCOM, and a deal secured with NETFLIX, a global distribution partner, Cirque and Saban are confident in the potential of the IP."It's exciting and frightening because we have to deliver," says Méthé. Lamarre concurs. "The risk is that we have to produce a series that will not only be appealing to viewers, but that will be a good demonstration of our brand, too," he says. "Our consumers have very specific expectations of what Cirque is all about, and it's very important that moms recognize the creativity in the new brand. Obviously, we don't want to disappoint them."

With delivery of the series, Cirque and Saban are also exploring ways to extend Luna Petunia to interactive, digital, learning and other consumer products. "As the creative is developing, we are paying a great deal of attention to how the storylines, characters and visuals can translate to the other platforms," says Dekel. One of the ultimate goals, according to Lamarre, would be to launch an immersive live experience and bring the property back to what Cirque does best. "The greatest reward we could have, and it would be a first for us, would be to establish a character that has enough impact to integrate into a live show."