(Photo: Paramount Pictures)
Metropolis is not headed to Apple TV+ after all. The streaming service has dropped its plans for the series based on the classic film and book of the same name. Sam Esmail is behind the adaptation of the 1927 film by Fritz Lang. He had been working on the project for the last seven years, and Apple TV+ ordered the series in March 2022.
The delay in production caused by the current Writer’s Strike is the cause of the cancellation of the high-profile project, per Deadline. Not all the scripts for Metropolis were finished before the strike, and only two cast members had been set at that time.
A rep for UCP, the company behind the series, said, “Push costs and uncertainty related to the ongoing strike led to this difficult decision.”
The following was revealed about the plot of the classic film:
“Directed by Lang and written by Thea Von Harbou based on the latter’s 1925 novel, the original film was set in a futuristic urban dystopia and follows the attempts of Freder, the wealthy son of the city master, and Maria, a saintly figure to the workers, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes in their city and bring the workers together with Joh Fredersen, the city master.”
It is not known if the project could land at another outlet at a later date.
What do you think? Were you planning to see Metropolis? Are you sad that the project is not moving forward at Apple TV+?