Almost ten years ago, Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail began work on a passion project of his. Bring Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi masterpiece, Metropolis, back to life as a long-form television series. It was a dream that was very close to becoming a reality with Apple TV+ getting ready to start production later this year. However, due to the writer’s strike, the project has been permanently shut down.
Deadline reported the news, which was confirmed by the show’s production company, Universal Content Productions. “Push costs and uncertainty related to the ongoing strike led to this difficult decision,” a representative for UCP told the trade. This basically means the company was paying people not to work as it waited for the strike to end but will no longer be doing that. Scripts were not complete when the strike started last month and so many departments were waiting in Australia as production was supposed to start this summer.
Metropolis was first announced way back in 2016 but, at the time, Esmail still had two seasons of Mr. Robot to finish. Here’s how it was described then:
Like the original film, the small-screen adaptation will take place in a future society where wealthy industrialists rule the vast city from high-rise tower complexes, while a lower class of underground-dwelling workers toil constantly to operate the machines that provide its power. Risking everything they know, two star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the divide must find a way to bring down the whole system.
And now, well, a system did get brought down. Only it was the one we were hoping to see brought to life on Apple TV+.
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