Draft:The Enchanted Cave

The Enchanted Cave is an upcoming Brazilian telenovela, produced and exibited by SBT that will replace The Childhood of Romeo and Juliet in the second half of 2024. It is the eighth children's telenovella to be produced by the broadcaster since it began investing in works of the genre in 2012

It will be written by Íris Abravanel, with the collaboration of Andreza Porto, Denise Barbosa, Fany Higuera, Gustavo Braga and Luiz Felipe Pereira Santos, with text supervision of Rita Valente and general management by Ricardo Mantoanelli. It's and adaptation of the book series The Little Princess and The Secret Garden, de Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The series stars Mel Summers, Isabela Souza, Miguel Coelho, Wallentina Bomfim, Bernardo Schroeder, Rosi Campos, Andrey Lopes and Arthur Kohl in the main roles.

Production
In September 2023, it was noticed that the SBT pretended to re-adapt the series My Lime Orange Tree, that would be the fourth version of the above mentioned book. [1]. In addiction to the Brazilian text, another series that had captured the broadcaster's attention was the Argentinian show Patito feo, a show that would win a remake in 2020 to replace The Adventures of Poliana, but ended up suspended due to budget cuts of the broadcaster, not living a good financial time at the moment of the start of its production in the second semester of 2019, being aggravated by the COVID-19 Pandemic in the following year.[2] The plot also portrait similarities with the mention title and was poorly regarded internally on account of the scandal caused by the actor Juan Darthés, who was arrested for sexual abuse in 2019, after complaints from former cast mates.[3]

However, the channel ended up discarding the remake of My Lime Orange Tree and began to think about creating a remake of El diario de Daniela, a Mexican telenovella exhibited between 2000 and 2007.[1] The plot even got its confirmation of production by the journalist Leão Lobo in Dezember, 23, 2023.[2] However, the SBT decided to instead re-adapt the book The Secret Garden.[3]

In addiction to the title of the book itself, temporary names were utilized: "Little Giants facing Giants", "Anna and the Giants" and "Anna and the Little Giants".[1][2] On March 11, 2024, the SBT formalizes the title The Enchanted Cave.[3]

The recordings initiated on April 1st, together with the recodrings of the publicly known "Here it comes". The first teaser was released on the 26th of May, and began to appear during the commercial break of Domingo Legal.[1]

Casting Selection
The first officialized names to the series were Carla Diaz, Joaquim Lopes and Regina Duarte.[1] However, only the first two were called to test for cast selection, while the third ended up with her contract discarded by the broadcaster, in spite of multiple invitation attempts by the actress,which weren't successfull.[2] [3]

Carla Diaz disputed the first adult role with Anajú Dorigon. However, the main role ended up been attributed to Isabela Souza, who was confirmed in the official cast, together with Miguel Coelho.

To play the main role, the SBT bet on the debutant Mel Summers. The main cast was formalised on March 11, 2024, also confirming the veterans Rosi Campos and Luíza Tomé, marking the return of Rosi to the channel, after being away 34 years from the channel, since her role in Brasileiras e Brasileiros, while Tomé did his dubut on the channel. Other confirmed veterans in the plot are Clarice Niskier, whose last job was in the series Carinha de Anjo, Phil Miler, who had been absent from the genre since Os Ricos Também Choram, Arthur Kohl who now returns to the SBT after participating in the special Mansão Bem Assombrada and Magali Biff who now returns to the channel after special appearances in Patrulha Salvadora and A Garota da Moto. .

Apart from Mel Summers and good part of the juvenile cast, there were also the debuts of the singers Giulia Nassa and Théo Werneck, after their experience growth in productions of the genre, by displaying acting roles in other series and television shows.

The Plot
The plot tells the story of Anna, daughter of a physicist and missionary named Paul. Her father receives a missionary calling to a dangerous mission and, unfortunately, Anna isn't allowed to follow him. Paul leaves his daughter Anna in a boarding school in the interior of São Paulo, where she will have to live alongside new and different children. Paul, her father, promises to come back at her birthday, but mysteriously ends up not coming back. Anna then decides to investigate the reasons of her father's disappearance and ends up discovering interesting things about her past.