Sabrina and Daphne discover the unpredictable, magical nature of the town of Ferryport Landing — and that they’re the descendants of The Brothers Grimm. The Sisters Grimm showrunner Amy Higgins and fellow EP Michael Buckley (who also wrote the books) discuss their new AppleTV+ adventure series, which premieres this Friday October 3rd. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Amy, I think people have such a fascination — and have for such a long time — with twisting up fairytales, whether it’s “Shrek” or “Enchanted” or “Tangled” — and now with this series. What do you think it is about that fascination people have and that you have when it comes to being a part of this series

Amy Higgins: It’s a great question. In the pitch of this show we talked about… fairytales have been since the beginning of time designed to warn, to instruct, to inspire. And they exist in every culture. They exist in every form. And I think they are so much part of our DNA, even from being little kids. I feel like there’s something that sort of hearkens back to childhood to being a little kid and then you actually get to live in this world. And the idea of the truth of that happening. I tried to always go from the perspective of: What if this were me and I was on a train, and suddenly these fairytale characters are real? What would that really be like? I tried to live in that character space. I was a huge fan of Peter Pan as a kid. I did a lot of Peter Panning and swinging on ropes. I think that’s the pull of it — you get to actually be in this place where magic happens and you’re slightly outside reality and you’re able to do things that you’re not able to do in normal life. So I think that’s the pull. I think everybody sort of desires that and kind of in our hearts from the little kid, we get to be imaginative again.

JM: And I think maybe a similar out-of-body experience, you tell me, Michael, about the process of adapting your books to television — to animated series form. Did you always want this in the back of your mind and what was most interesting for you about this experience?

Michael Buckley: I wrote the first book about 20 years ago, and it was always in development somewhere. There was always somebody who’s like, “Oh, we’re gonna make this into a movie or a television show.” Rarely did the people who were in charge of it ever seemed to understand it. There was a lot of tweaking and like, “Oh, can we make them boys?” These kind of odd conversations that we’d have. I’m like, “You don’t even get the title. Maybe we should stop.” But when Amy came into the fold… she totally got it. She understood what it was about. And yes, they’re full of fairytales and magic and lots of adventure and it’s funny. But I think at its heart, it’s the story of a young girl really struggling with the world around her and her place in it. She’s not always perfect and she’s not alway sweet.

She kinda leads with her fists sometimes, and making that into a show was actually challenging because the truth is… we live in this world where young girls… ‘They have to be nice and they have to dress pretty.’ Even still today on television, young girls are not allowed to be difficult. Amy and Apple were so great about this, and Titmouse, who produced it and animated it: We were creating this character who is challenging, and we’re not backing away from it, and that was the hardest thing to find. And luckily, Amy came along and she understood this completely. It was a take I hope other people haven’t seen in a kids show. So yeah, it was sometimes challenging. But we did, we did land it. I think the plane is on the ground.

JM: There’s definitely grit to this show along with the fun, and you get that through Sabrina. Sabrina and Daphne are sisters in this very unique situation, and Amy, about this dynamic that they have coming to Ferryport Landing… what they discover. You go all in on their emotions, their reactions, and how they work with each other to get through various situations.

AH: Weirdly, I’m an only child. My husband has six brothers, but I don’t know that experience firsthand. I know the experience firsthand of losing your parents, and that is what I drew from because when we got in the show I’d lost both my parents just right beforehand, actually. That was sort of the motivation of that and the people who were by me at the time — having these good friends, even my husband… having some really close connection and going through this kind of trauma and this new world together. That’s what I jumped into. Also, I always wanted a sister and I always imagined what my sister would be like. She was my made up sister that I’d probably lived with my whole life. Those are the elements that I tried to make again feel like a real relationship where it’s not syrupy. The girls are not like, “Hey, we’re just the best of friends.” They are contentious at times and they call each other out on things ’cause I think that’s what real relationships are like.

JM: We find out they’re descendants of The Brothers Grimm. So Michael, did you really wanna explore legacy? I think for a lot of people… you’re in the family of a certain famous celebrity, or there’s a lot of those legacy chapters… you wanna follow in the footsteps of someone. That’s a relatable theme to a lot of people out there. Did you wanna explore the legacy theme through this?

MB: Well, I think just being the descendants of such famous people who are associated with some of the most important stories ever written… that’s a fun place to jump into. The truth is though, The Brothers Grimm, in my series, were more detectives than storytellers. And in real life, the brothers didn’t actually write any of these stories. They stole them from women who lived up in the mountains around their town. And then they wrote them down as a scholarly effort for schools and professors to teach — and they discovered that people were buying their book and reading it to their kids, so then they went in and revised it. So some of the stories are more appropriate for children than not.

Placing them at the center of this world where many of the things they decided, especially when they brought all the Ever Afters over from Europe to the Hudson Valley to resettle so they could avoid persecution… they make some bold decisions that have some negative consequences for the girls, including establishing an enormous invisible barrier around the town that prevents anybody from leaving. Unless the last Grimm has passed away — that’s when they can go, which puts the family in unexpected danger all the time. The Brothers have a major impact throughout the entire book series.

JM: And now with this series, Amy, how did you wanna pace out over the course of the episodes which fairytale characters — your twists on them — you wanna include at certain moments? Was that interesting feeling that out from the books to the screen?

AH: We tried to follow the books pretty closely. The plot for sure is very close to the books. The hardest part of this is needing to cut great parts of the books in order to fit it into a place, or combine a few things. One of the characters that I think stole the show a lot is Prince Charming. Abubakar Salim is the voice actor, and he is so deliciously arrogant, full of himself, but deliciously full of heart and heroism. It’s a peeling onion. You’re finding out really what this world is about over the course of six episodes, and by episode four you’re like, “Oh, this is for real. These are real fairytale characters that inhabit this place.”

JM: And visual surprises too, Michael, with how certain characters look and proportions with the giants and monsters. How did you dive into all of that and what did you love the most about that aspect of this?

MB: This is the part where, as my role as an EP and the other parts of the show that I worked on, there were still things that were oftentimes a surprise for me. And I loved that. Some of the changes that we made to the show are really in an effort to make the show look more like the people who will watch it. So when we made a little tweak like this… it’s kinda like Christmas morning. You don’t know what’s in the box until you open it. Some things I wanted to know about in advance and some things I just enjoyed the thrill of seeing how it all turned out.

JM: Amy there’s the theme of being brave, and that importance I think comes through right from the get go. How did you wanna make sure that is a prominent element of “The Sisters Grimm”?

AH: Great question. We were just coming off the tail of COVID. And I had a 5-year-old who was in kindergarten, and there was a lot of trauma that was happening. There was a lot of trauma collectively, internationally, globally. A lot of fear that was going on. There were a lot of people who were stuck at home, probably in not ideal situations. And really from the get go I was like, “This is a story about creating your own story and being brave and being strong enough to… make the choices that you want to make even if you’ve not lived that story so far.” That you get to choose your own story. You get to choose your own narrative. That’s kind of my main theme over the course of the first season. You get to be the author of your own life. And I kind of continue to do that. And that takes bravery.

From the very beginning… even though we are terrified of doing this, we have to engage people even if we’re terrified of them — even if we don’t agree with them, which is a big part of this show. Sabrina does not have a lot of time for these Ever Afters ’cause they took her parents. She’s [suspicious] of them. So she has to trust them. And I think trusting someone who you perceive has wronged you somehow is possibly the greatest and the most brave thing you can do. That’s part of her relationship with Puck. It’s part of her relationship with Prince Charming… with Relda. That’s the fundamental foundation of how I started the series.

JM: There’s a lot of power in what you just said there. And Michael, I have to mention Ariel Winter, who voices Sabrina and, besides “Modern Family”, has made a real career out of voice acting — “Sofia the First”, which she’s returning to, and many other projects. So having her on board must have been a thrill.

MB: When she first came on board it was pretty early in the process and you could just hear in that voice… that’s Sabrina. She understands the snark. She understands the heart. She totally gets it. And, having been a fan of “Modern Family”, I knew that she was more than capable of playing this character. And there’s so many other great cast members on the show that I’m just thrilled about. One is Lorraine Newman, who plays the grandmother, who is a legendary “SNL” alumni from the very first cast — and maybe the first crush I ever had as a kid. Just to have her doing this voice… that character is based on my actual grandmother… is a real thrill.