Principal photography for Netflix's Fate: The Winx Saga has begun in Ireland.

The six episode series, inspired by the Italian animated franchise, follows the coming-of-age journey of five unlikely friends attending Alfea, a magical boarding school in the Otherworld. There, they must learn to master their magical powers while navigating love, rivalries and the monsters that threaten their very existence. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Abigail Cowen stars as Bloom, while Frankenstein's Hannah van der Westhuysen stars as Stella. The cast also features Sadie Soverall as Beatrix; Freddie Thorp as Riven; Danny Griffin as Sky; Theo Graham as Dane and Jacob Dudman as Sam. Eve Best, Robert James-Collier, Josh Cowdery, Alex Macqueen and Eva Birthistle also star. Netflix content executive Jennifer Breslow, told how they are "extremely proud to bring this iconic set of strong female characters to life." She added:

"We are committed to delivering a live action series that honors the original animated series, but also allows new fans to come along for the ride. "Brian Young has done an incredible job with the adaptation and found a way to create a wildly entertaining and addictive genre series."

In a statement, showrunner Brian Young added:

“I know I’m a writer, but words truly cannot describe how excited we are to be bringing Fate: The Winx Saga to life with these incredible actors. "I can’t wait for Winx fans all over the world to see what we have in store for them, and for an entirely new audience to discover what we love so much about this world and these characters.”

Fate: The Winx Saga is directed by Lisa James Larsson, cast by Kate Ringsell and series produced by Jon Finn. Executive producers are Judy Counihan and Kris Thykier of Archery Pictures and Iginio Straffi from Rainbow Group. Wild Atlantic are co-producers.       (6x60)