Tinkerbell's drug addict reimagining revealed in Peter Pan horror film: Director teases 'very f---ed up' backstory (exclusive)

Every Peter Pan needs a Tinkerbell — even a murderous horror version of the Lost Boy.

Director Scott Chambers looked to a 2016 Aussie thriller as inspiration for the particular Tink-Pan dynamic in Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, the latest installment of “the Poohniverse,” that twisted series of films that turns beloved childhood figures like Winnie-the-Pooh and Bambi into demented monstrosities. That unlikely creative source, Hounds of Love, focused on a suburban married couple who abduct a teenage girl with plans to abuse and murder her.

“There was a lot of manipulation between that couple, and I found that so fascinating,” Chambers tells Entertainment Weekly of the Ben Young-directed indie. “I brought a lot of that into this.”

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Kit Green now appears as Tinkerbell opposite Martin Portlock’s killer Peter Pan in Chambers’ film, as seen in EW’s exclusive first-look photos of the character. The filmmaker, who also leads Jagged Edge, the production company behind the Poohniverse, explains how the new movie envisions “a very f---ed up” and “very twisted” relationship between them.

The figure who eventually becomes known as Tinkerbell is biologically born male and named Timmy, an earlier victim of Peter Pan, who in this world is a demented child-napper hellbent on sending young boys to Neverland. Because Timmy identifies as female, Pan won’t let her become one of his Lost Boys. “She didn't fit the criteria to actually be sent fully to Neverland,” Chambers explains. “Then he says, however, you can be something else. You can be this fairy, you can be magical, but you've got to help me. I'll give you this pixie dust, and if you keep taking it...Every time you are good, you can have some.”

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Of course, it’s not really pixie dust. It's heroin. Years later, when Pan resurfaces to kidnap Michael (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), the younger brother of Wendy Darling (Megan Placito), Tinkerbell is now completely hooked on the junk — and also hooked on her coercive-controlling tormenter. The team used prosthetics on Green’s arms to create the illusion of decaying flesh and decades of track marks. An exclusive clip from the film (above) shows that prosthetic work through an interaction between Tink and Michael. “I wanted there to be an element of krokodil, which is a really bad drug that you inject, and it just rots your skin,” Chambers says.

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“This is not a villain at all,” he clarifies of Tink. “This is an extremely layered character. This is someone that's really troubled. They're brainwashed. It's Stockholm Syndrome. They've been in this situation for years and years and years. They don't know any other way.” Most actors in the audition process didn't deliver those nuances, but Green’s subtleties enhanced all of those facets and landed her the job. “She just really tapped into it where no one else was,” he says. “As soon as I saw the audition, I was like, ‘Yes!’”

Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, from Jagged Edge Productions and ITN Studios, premieres in theaters for just three days between Jan. 13 and Jan. 15. (Tickets are now on sale through Iconic Events Releasing.) However, Green’s Tinkerbell is already set to return for Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble, the Avengers-like film that brings together all of these storybook horror figures from Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 (2024), the upcoming Bambi: The Reckoning and Pinocchio: Unstrung, and more. “There’s gonna be some fun with Tinkerbell. I’m excited,” Chambers, who also portrays Christopher Robbin within the Poohniverse canon, teases. “I have an idea that she's going to have massive heroin arms, like needles as arms and needles coming out. It'd be quite fun. It’s got to go above and beyond, I think, in that one.”

Portlock’s Pan will also return in that cinematic crossover event. Chambers reveals he’ll be “the lead of the big bads” with figures like the Mad Hatter and Mary Poppins among his rogue’s gallery. “I feel like he’ll get on with Mary Poppins like a house on fire because they have this fascination towards looking after kids,” he says. This month's Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare becomes crucial in setting that particular stage.

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“The reason Peter Pan is quite a serious and dark film is because when we get to Poohniverse, I do need you to feel a certain way about Peter Pan,” Chambers explains. “I need you to have an instant, ‘Oh, I don't like him.’ He's really twisted. He's really messed up. When he's next to Pooh, he doesn’t look so bad, do you know what I mean? So, there's got to be the bads and the big bads and all that kind of stuff. I'm trying to get it ready for when we get to that movie.”

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