Richard Gere’s TV show based on Israeli series Nevelot has been canceled by Apple.
The series got the green light from Apple at the end of last year and was supposed to star Gere in the lead role, with Howard Gordon and Warren Leight set to serve as showrunners. Now the duo will have to find another company to produce it.
Apple reportedly parted ways with Gordon and Leight due to creative differences. Because it backed out of the project so late, Apple must release a substantial penalty payment to the producers.
The original Nevelot series followed two elderly Vietnam veterans and best friends. Gere was set to star as one of the old men, whose lives are disrupted when a woman they both loved 50 years ago is killed in a car crash.
This is the first TV series that Apple has completely canceled, as far as we know. A few of its other series in development have had showrunners depart, though. Bryan Fuller left the Amazing Stories series, supposedly because he wanted a darker angle than Apple was going for. Apple’s adaptation of Foundation also lost its showrunner, Josh Friedman.
Apple still hasn’t revealed a launch date for Apple TV+, the subscription streaming service coming this fall. Spending costs for the company’s slate of original TV shows have allegedly grown past $7 billion. Some of the TV shows already boast bigger budgets than Game of Thrones as Apple tries to take over Hollywood with its wallet.
