Has the peak TV wave crested? On the one hand, no less than 15 shows aired a season premiere on one recent Sunday alone, and around 100 debuted in the last two weeks of April. On the other hand, Netflix just reported its first quarterly subscriber loss ever, leading to a 70 percent drop in the original streamer’s stock price and reports that “the party’s over” by some media outlets.
Whatever the reason, a lot of marquee projects across the streaming landscape have hit some big snags lately. From casting drama to drastic plot overhauls, these are some of the major shows with murky futures, including Netflix’s Edgar Allan Poe series, a Walking Dead spinoff, and a new program set in the Batman universe. Here’s what you need to know about these high-profile series.
The Idol. Euphoria creator Sam Levinson joining forces with The Weeknd for a music industry drama seems like a no-brainer, but the pair’s HBO project is getting overhauled in the wake of a “new creative direction” that requires an “adjustment of cast and crew.” According to Deadline, The Weeknd felt that The Idol – which tells the story of a young pop singer who becomes romantically involved with a cult leader in Los Angeles – was too focused on the “female perspective,” and as a result Red Rocket standout Suzanna Son (who was set to play a cult acolyte) and director Amy Seimetz are off the project. Levison will likely have a bigger hand in directing as a result. It’s unclear how much these changes will affect the show’s planned release schedule.
American Gigolo. A television show based on the acclaimed 1980 Paul Schrader film has been in the works for more than seven years, with superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer working to adapt the movie he helped produce for the small screen. The show focuses on a sex worker in Los Angeles who is also looking to uncover the truth around a murder case he served prison time for.
It picked up serious steam over the last two years, with Jon Bernthal set for the lead, and Ray Donovan showrunner David Hollanderat the helm. But on April 27, production was halted after Hollander was ousted due to misconduct allegations. (Deadline said Hollander’s indescretions “were not of a sexual-harassment nature,” though there has been little additional clarity.) Eight of the first season’s 10 episodes have already been shot, though there is no timeline for when they might resume filming or who will be at the helm.
Obi-Wan Kenobi. The next Star Wars series begins on May 27, but big changes have been made behind the scenes even with the premiere date on the horizon, per The Hollywood Reporter. Darth Maul, who was an enemy of Obi-Wan in The Phantom Menace, was set to be reprised by actor Ray Park, but the character was cut as part of “a creative overhaul.”
A similar fate befell the young actor slated to play child Luke Skywalker, who was cast but wound up not shooting a single scene. The main reason for these changes was reportedly because Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau were concerned the show would be too similar to The Mandalorian if it focused on Obi-Wan protecting young Luke. So they wound up adding Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader into the fray, bringing Hayden Christensen back to the role after he played the character in the 2000s trilogy.
Pearl. With Netflix in disarray, the streaming service has applied the brakes for several programs in early development, including one that was helmed by Meghan Markle. Pearl focused on a pre-teen girl learning about and drawing inspiration from important women in history. It was to be produced by Archewell Productions, the company the Markle and Prince Harry set up in 2020. Pearl has been in the works since July 2021; animation veteran Amanda Rynda was on board as showrunner, per Deadline. Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan, who’ve produced successful documentaries like Fauci and All In: The Fight for Democracy, were involved as well.
The Batman. The tremendous success of Matt Reeves’ The Batman film makes its TV spinoff a surefire money-maker, but production on the Gotham police-centered saga has not gone terribly smoothly. First, writer Terence Winter of The Sopranos/Wolf of Wall Street/Boardwalk Empire fame left in late 2020, and then, back in March, Reeves told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the cop show is now on hold. “We’re not really doing that,” he said succinctly. “It wasn’t going to be a Batman story, it was going to be about this corrupt cop. And it was going to be about how the worst gang in Gotham were the GCPD,” he explained.
Reeves Bat-universe isn’t hurting for spin-offs though: a series revolving around Colin Farrell’s Penguin villain is still in the works, and Reeves The Cyber Nerds YouTube channel that they are now developing a show about Arkham Asylum. In his Happy Sad Confused interview, Reeves said he wants “Arkham to exist as a character” the way that the city of Gotham does in the Batman world.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Getting television royalty Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge together for a project always felt a little too good to be true, and it turns out that inkling was spot on. The pair were set to star opposite each other in a new take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the hit spy action-comedy starring Angeline Jolie and Brad Pitt, but Waller-Bridge left the project in the fall of 2021. (In that Interview Magazine cover where Glover interviewed himself, he chalked her departure up to “classic creative differences.”) The role will now be played by PEN15’s Maya Erskine. Glover seems hyped about the project, telling… himself, “[Maya’s] dope. It’s exciting. I really love the show. I’m writing the finale now.” Mr. & Mrs. Smith will air on Prime Video, though no release date is set.
Untitled Walking Dead spinoff. The Walking Dead already has one spin-off—that would be Fear the Walking Dead—but, as one of the biggest TV properties of the last decade, there are of course plans for even more. A proposed show about fan-favorite characters Carol Peletier and Daryl Dixon has been in the works for years, which would continue their story following the original series’ conclusion later this year. But according to The Hollywood Reporter, McBride has left the show, in part because it was going to shift from shooting in Atlanta to Europe.
The Fall of the House of Usher. TV horror masterminds Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy are tackling the ambitious project of turning Edgar Allan Poe’s works into a streaming series for Netflix. The show features a star-studded cast, including Bruce Greenwood and Carla Gugino, as well as Flanagan mainstays Carla Gugino, Annabeth Gish, Kate Siegel, and Zach Gilford. But perhaps the biggest name associated with Usher has been removed from the project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Academy Award nominee Frank Langella was set to play the Usher family patriarch, but left the series following an investigation into on-set misconduct allegations. Langella’s role will reportedly be recast and no footage of him will appear in the show.