Turns out Apple TV+ is not going to turn Fritz Lang’s sci-fi classic Metropolis into a series. The ongoing writers’ strike reportedly caused the project to be shut down.
And it’s not the only Apple TV+ project to run afoul of the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike.
Apple TV+ won’t visit Metropolis
Metropolis, regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, has influenced cinema for nearly a century now. It’s a silent film made in Germany in 1927, and tells the story of a robot that nearly destroys a futuristic city where a few live in luxury from the labor of exploited workers.
Sam Esmail had been planning to adapt the story for a big-budget series on Apple TV+, but the WGA strike caused the project to be permanently canceled.
“Push costs and uncertainty related to the ongoing strike led to this difficult decision,” a spokesperson for UCP, the studio filming the series, told Deadline.
Metropolis had not started filming, and work on the script was still in process, so the writers’ strike brought production to a standstill.
WGA strike hit Apple streaming service before
Streaming services like Netflix and Apple TV+ profoundly changed the entertainment business in recent years. And the Writers Guild of America members who create scripts for the films and shows that appear on streaming services argue they are underpaid for their work. They want approximately the same deal they signed with traditional TV outlets.
The writers’ strike that began in May also disrupted other Apple TV+ projects beyond Metropolis. Most notably, production on the megahit Severance season two has been halted because of picketing by WGA strikers. Production of the second season of Apple comedy series Loot also stopped after picketers showed up at the set.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
