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Apple TV+ Series Canceled Amid Writers Strike
Apple TV+ Series Canceled Amid Writers Strike,Apple TV+ has scrapped a massive sci-fi project called Metropolis from writer and producer Sam Esmail. Metropolis was an adaptation of the 1927 movie by Fritz Lang and was planned with a huge budget and lots of special effects. According to a report by Deadline, the show has been shut down just [...]

Apple TV+ Series Canceled Amid Writers Strike

Apple TV+ has scrapped a massive sci-fi project called Metropolis from writer and producer Sam Esmail. Metropolis was an adaptation of the 1927 movie by Fritz Lang and was planned with a huge budget and lots of special effects. According to a report by Deadline, the show has been shut down just weeks before production was meant to begin.

Metropolis was through the writing phase and was nearly finished with pre-production, with a plan to film in Australia throughout this summer. However, crew members were abruptly notified that the project will not be moving forward after all and the entire set must be torn down. A rep for the production studio UCP confirmed the news to Deadline, saying: “Push costs and uncertainty related to the ongoing strike led to this difficult decision.”

Esmail is best known for creating, writing and directing the series Mr. Robot starring Rami Malek, and he has plenty of other hits under his name besides. His most recent show is The Resort – a dark comedy which premiered on Peacock last summer. Esmail was picked to head up Metropolis in March of 2022, though the series was first announced back in 2016. It’s unclear how the writing on this series was carried out or how the WGA strike may have impacted the studios’ decision to scrap this show.

The original 1927 film Metropolis is a German sci-fi film associated with the expressionist movement – meaning it focused on mirroring the artists’ inner feelings even at the expense of realism and accuracy. Expressionist films were generally very distorted and surreal. Metropolis is a silent film set in a futuristic urban dystopia where the wealthy son of a politician falls in love with a woman regarded as a saint by the downtrodden workers. Together, they help to settle the class issues and disorder in the city.

It’s unclear how the remake would have altered this premise for the modern era, but there were two main cast members already announced to the public. Briana Middleton was cast as the lead in the series, while Lindy Booth was cast in a “major role.” Beyond that, little was known about the creative direction of this series.

Esmail has at least one other upcoming project to look forward to – Leave the World Behind, a drama film due out this December. Hopefully, he and the rest of the cast and crew of Metropolis can find other work to fill their schedules after this abrupt cancellation.

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