Netflix’s animated adventure Steps is one week away from its November 20 premiere, with music providing a fresh point of entry into its reworked Cinderella story. Earlier this week, the platform released an animated lyric video for JENNIE’s “Someone to Hold.” The film brings the familiar fairy tale’s stepsisters into the foreground and asks what happens when characters usually left at its edges begin driving the action themselves. [1]
This is a release preview, rather than an announcement that the movie has suddenly been added to Netflix’s calendar. The November date was already part of the service’s fall slate. The approach is an animated action comedy: a magical mistake creates a much larger problem, and characters accustomed to being on opposite sides of the story must work together to solve it. [2]
The stepsisters move to the center
Ali Wong voices Lilith, Stephanie Hsu voices Margot and Amanda Seyfried voices Cinderella. Netflix’s earlier casting feature describes Lilith taking the Fairy Godmother’s wand and disrupting the royal ball, opening the way for Priscilla to take over the kingdom. The resulting adventure sends Lilith and Cinderella into a world of magical dangers, with the damaged bond between the sisters forming a central part of the story. [3]
Changing the viewpoint gives an adaptation more to do than retell familiar incidents with different jokes. If the stepsisters become the audience’s companions, their choices need understandable motives and consequences. The interesting question is not whether they can be renamed the heroes. It is whether the film can show how resentment, embarrassment or a wish to belong leads someone into a mistake they must then take responsibility for repairing.
The directors are Alyce Tzue and John Ripa. In Netflix’s October trailer feature, Tzue discussed wanting to look at the sisters who did not receive the magic in the conventional version of the tale. The stated interest is belonging: how people understand themselves when the story around them appears to have assigned them an unflattering role before they have had a chance to speak. [4]
That premise can work for viewers who know Cinderella well and those encountering its ingredients for the first time. A familiar object such as a wand supplies a clear rule: it gives someone power to change a situation. The drama comes from what the person chooses to change, what they misunderstand and who must live with the result. The rules can remain simple even when the emotional consequences become complicated.
![Netflix’s animated adventure Steps is one week away from its November 20 premiere, with music providing a fresh point of entry into its reworked Cinderella story. Earlier this week, the platform released an animated lyric video for JENNIE’s “Someone to Hold.” The film brings the familiar fairy tale’s stepsisters into the foreground and asks what happens when characters usually left at its edges begin driving the action themselves. [1]](https://fanfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/jennie-1024x576.jpg)
Keeping Cinderella human
Seyfried’s casting was announced in a May 18 Tudum feature by Tara Bitran. The directors described a version of Cinderella with specific emotions and imperfections rather than an untouchable storybook ideal. The same feature identifies Netflix Animation Studios’ Sydney and Vancouver teams as the animation production locations. Those earlier details offer background on the film’s construction as its release approaches. [3]
A more specific Cinderella can strengthen the stepsisters’ story as well. Rivalry becomes less abstract when the person being envied has a personality beyond the qualities others project onto her. Cooperation then requires the characters to notice each other accurately, rather than simply announce a lesson about kindness. For an action comedy, those discoveries can happen during a shared task, when each character has to depend on something the other does well.
This is an interpretation of the announced setup, not a review of scenes from the finished movie. A preview can identify what a premise makes possible without claiming that every possibility appears on screen. The release will show how the filmmakers balance the physical adventure with the quieter work of turning a difficult family relationship into a believable partnership.
Songs alongside the score
Brookie McIlvaine’s November 9 Tudum report identifies “Someone to Hold” as JENNIE’s first contribution to an animated film. It also lists original music contributions from Rose Gray, EMEI and Seyfried. Their participation gives the release several musical points of contact, while the lyric video lets listeners hear one part of that package before they watch the complete story. [1]
The October trailer feature credits Justin Tranter with writing and producing new music and Kris Bowers with the score. Those roles are related but distinct. A featured song can express an idea directly or become a recognizable part of the film’s identity. An instrumental score can support transitions, comedy and changes of perspective even when a sequence does not pause for a musical performance. [4]
For Steps, the combination offers a useful creative opportunity. A fairy-tale setting comes with expectations about grandeur and wonder. Music can satisfy those expectations, complicate them or gently make fun of them. A cue that sounds majestic in one situation can become comic when paired with a character whose experience is much less dignified. The value lies in how specifically the sound responds to the story, not simply how large it becomes.
Apple Music’s listing places the soundtrack release on November 20, the same day as the film. As with any prerelease album page, the practical point is the announced availability date. A soundtrack listing is not a substitute for seeing how the songs and score function within the movie, where editing and character performance give them a particular dramatic context. [5]
A cast built for contrasting personalities
The announced cast also includes Bette Midler as the Fairy Godmother, Nikki Glaser as Priscilla, Daniel Radcliffe as the Prince, Young Mazino as Gef, Peter Dinklage as Roderick and Damian Priest as Cracktor. Netflix’s fall release guide identifies those performers alongside Wong, Hsu and Seyfried, establishing an ensemble of distinct comic characters rather than a single star surrounded by anonymous supporting voices. [2]
Contrasting voices are especially useful in animation because the audience needs to follow relationships quickly while processing a newly invented world. One character’s certainty can collide with another’s hesitation; an imposing voice can make an otherwise absurd situation feel momentarily serious. The animators then give those differences visible form. Casting becomes part of how the film explains its people, not merely a collection of names on a poster.
The film’s producers are Amy Poehler, Jane Hartwell and Kim Lessing, according to Netflix’s May casting announcement. The current promotional materials also present Steps as a standalone movie. There is no earlier installment that viewers need to complete before November 20, and the new treatment can be approached through the characters and premise rather than a complicated viewing order. [3]
For a family movie night, the appeal is easy to describe without giving away the adventure: characters who think they understand one another are pushed into a situation where those assumptions stop being useful. The magical setting supplies obstacles and comedy; the sibling story gives those obstacles a personal cost. Whether the balance succeeds is for audiences to judge when the full film becomes available.
With a week left before release, the lyric video offers a small musical preview while Netflix’s trailer introduces the broader adventure. Steps is aiming to make a well-known tale feel different by changing whose experience matters most. On November 20, viewers will be able to see how that shift holds together across the complete movie, beyond the wand, the ball and the familiar glass slipper.
References
[2] Every Movie Coming to Netflix in Fall 2026 — Netflix Tudum, fall slate published September 2026
