Not content with cancelling even more legacy projects or even wiping original content from existence so that it can’t be watched by anybody anywhere on any platform, Disney has now decided that its latest cost-cutting drive should be to swing the axe at TV shows that have already finished shooting.
Hot on the heels of the Mouse House deciding it wasn’t interested in airing The Spiderwick Chronicles after all despite production wrapping up back in January, Captain Nemo prequel series Nautilus has also been given its marching orders, leaving yet another expensive episodic endeavor in a sticky situation should nobody else step in to acquire the distribution rights.
What makes the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas origin story’s fate even more curious is that Disney is also in the midst of developing the reboot of an ill-fated blockbuster that just so happens to feature Captain Nemo in a major role, and this is one of those rare do-overs that fans of the source material are genuinely excited for.
Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has the makings of a top-notch comic book blockbuster that can broadly be described as the “Steampunk Avengers,” but the previous feature-length spin on the story ended up killing the careers of both the legendary Sean Connery and Blade director Stephen Norrington.
Announced last year as a Hulu original, questions will no doubt be asked about whether Captain Nemo will end up going zero-for-two under the stewardship of the Mouse House, but one small – and potentially very important – mercy is that the company does control the rights to the property thanks to its status as a 20th Century Fox title.