The thing about the best streaming services is that they have to be ruthless. Even Disney has to get serious sometimes, and unfortunately, that has meant cancelling two upcoming TV series.
According to Deadline an adaptation of bestselling YA novels The Spiderwick Chronicles and a series based on Captain Nemo (from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea), titled Nautilus have now been scrapped.
Unlike Willow which was pulled from the service earlier this year, these two series never even got a chance to go live on Disney+. At least before being dropped, the two shows did have time to finish filming. Hopefully, we could see them pop up elsewhere, in true Warrior Nun style.
These series are thought to be victims of Disney's new cost-cutting measures with price hikes and a decrease in focus on non-Disney IP. It's a shame because the Spiderwick Chronicles series in particular sounds like a great time. Everyone loves a bit of YA and when I was growing up these books were massive. Christian Slater even plays the villain Mulgarath. There is of course already a 2008 movie for the franchise, that boasts a solid 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and is currently streaming (in the UK) on Paramount+.
Nautilus stars British actor Shazad Latif, who starred alongside Lily James in Netflix's recent What's Love Got To Do With It? and who steals every scene as Clem Fandango in Toast of London. Fingers crossed both series get picked up elsewhere.
Disney+ does obviously have a host of great content on it including some of the best Marvel and Star Wars content (Try Andor) but it's a shame that it can't find a place for a bit more non-Disney content too. Having said that, the upcoming Percy Jackson series is still set to launch in December and no pressure, but my childhood is at stake.
