Cinderella is Dead

Two hundred years after the death of Cinderella and Prince Charming’s ascension to Mersailles’s throne, 16-year-old Sophia Grimmins meets her girlfriend, Erin, in a forbidden forest. The king’s guards patrol the area, and the girls have to hide. Sophia overhears one guard ask another if he’s attending King Manford’s annual ball. They joke about their wives having “accidents” so they could claim a new wife at the ball.

Sophia thinks today may be her and Erin’s last chance to run away and escape the patriarchal confines of Mersailles before being required to attend the ball and possibly take a husband. She has asked Erin to flee multiple times, but Erin responds like she always does, saying they have to accept their fate because escaping is impossible.

Guards circle back and spot Erin, who runs. Sophia follows them at a distance. When Sophia makes it back to the center of town, she doesn’t see Erin, so she assumes she escaped but reflects that this doesn’t mean she’s safe now—no girl truly is in Lille, their city in Mersailles.