It’s never a nice thing to prognosticate the worst for a series before it’s even had the chance to prove itself, but then again, recent history may not be working in the favor of upcoming Disney Plus original The Artful Dodger.
After all, the streaming service’s rampant content purge has left hardly any stones unturned, which could prove to be ominous in the short and long-term. As the episodic sequel to a novel that was published almost 200 years ago, it’s hard to see how a continuation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist is going to break out from the pack and become must-see content
If the Mouse House is happy to cast $50 million sci-fi blockbuster Crater out of the content library seven weeks after it premiered and ensure that the twice as costly fantasy epic Willow was unavailable to watch anywhere less than six months after it debuted to much fanfare, then the pressure is on for any star-powered or expensive in-house project to explode out of the blocks and seize an audience.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster plays the title role with support from David Thewlis as Fagin, while the story picking up in 1850s Australia. Jack Dawkins is now a highly-skilled surgeon, but his past nonetheless comes back to haunt him when his old arch-nemesis pitches up Down Under, forcing him back into the life of crime he’d left behind.
We’re not saying that The Artful Dodger is doomed to fail, but given the Mouse House’s habit for booting under-performing content from the airwaves in a matter of weeks or months, it wouldn’t be unfair to say the odds may be ever so slightly stacked against an Oliver Twist sequel breaking out from the pack and ensuring it remains embedded on the platform for the foreseeable future.