With Mr. Robot, Sam Esmail has created an acclaimed series that has opened every door in Hollywood for him. The director and screenwriter recently worked on one of the well most ambitious series projects in general: Metropolis, the remake of the classic of the same name by Fritz Lang from 1927.
Almost 100 years after the original, the dystopian tale of a city divided into two classes was to be brought to life in episodic form. After seven years, however, one thing is certain: Esmail’s Metropolis series will never come. Studios UCP (Universal Content Productions) has pulled the plug.
Dead sci-fi hope: Sam Esmail’s Metropolis series is now officially a failure
As Dealdine reports, one of the main reasons for the failure of Metropolis is the writers’ strike in Hollywood. As of May 2, 2023, all WGA members have resigned and strike for fair compensation. The scripts for Metropolis could not be completed previously.
You can watch the trailer for Metropolis (1927) here:
Metropolis – Trailer (German) HD
In fact, filming for the eight-part first season should begin in Australia this summer, creating almost 4,000 jobs there. Since an end to the WGA strike is not in sight and the series has already devoured a lot of money in its pre-production, UCP saw to it drastic step forced to call off the project completely.
A home for Metropolis had already been found. The series was set to be released on the Apple TV+ streaming service, which is home to some prestigious productions. Ultimately, however, the costs were no longer in the balance relationship to successwhich the series would have achieved according to all calculations.
For Esmail, Metropolis isn’t the only sci-fi defeat. After Mr. Robot, he was also linked to a Battlestar Galactica reboot. So far, however, the project has none significant progress made.
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