Sam Esmail’s (“Mr. Robot”) new AppleTV+ series “Metropolis” will not be moving forward. The series was an adaptation of the iconic Friz Lang-directed film of the same name from 1927, which was based on a novel by Thea Von Harbou from 1925 about a futuristic urban dystopia. Freder, the wealthy son of the city master, and Maria, a heroic figure to the workers, must overcome the vast divide between the classes in their city. Their union brings the workers together with Joh Fredersen, the city master.
“Push costs and uncertainty related to the ongoing strike led to this difficult decision,” a rep said about news.
Esmail’s much-anticipated series adaptation has been in the making for seven years. One of the biggest factors for its cancelation is the ongoing WGA strike, and the looming possibility of a SAG-AFTRA strike. The labor disputes have made the future of most- even established- productions murky.
“Metropolis” was set to be an eight-episode big-budget UCP series for Apple TV+. It was also a passion project for Esmail, who served as writer, director, and executive producer. Production had already been setting up in Australia, to hopefully start shooting in the summer. But the future of the series has been in limbo for the past seven weeks because production drafts of the scripts for the series had not been finished before the May 2nd start of the writer’s strike. This delayed setting budgets and other vital elements of pre-production.
This meant UCP was faced with rising costs due to pushing back the start of production. Things like building and holding huge stages, labor, and VFX work. Which were all high to begin with since the show was going to be very special effects heavy. All while having no idea when filming might be able to start, meaning it would cost even more money. It was decided to be too large of a risk for the studio to take.
“Metropolis” had already been partially cast with Briana Middleton as the lead and Lindy Booth in another significant role. The project was expected to create 4,000 jobs and was going to make use of one of the world’s largest ‘virtual production’ infrastructures. But even the Victorian Screen Incentive grant, which was given by VicScreen wasn’t enough to offset its mounting pre-production costs.
This is the second high-profile project for AppleTV Esmail had been working on to be ultimately cancelled.
