Grendel Star Expresses ‘Shock’ in Wake of Cancellation at Netflix: ‘An Entire Season Now Might Go Unseen’
Netflix‘s decision to scrap its Grendel comic book adaptation after all eight episodes were shot is not sitting well with one of the show’s stars.
“Hundreds of talented, tireless, wonderful people shot not just a pilot, not just a few episodes, but an entire season that now might go unseen,” Flash alum Andy Mientus (aka Grendel’s Larry Stohler) lamented Wednesday on Instagram. “I’m used to shows closing or getting cancelled, but only after they at least get to meet the world, their fate decided (mostly) by their audience. What’s happened here is a new one for me, and a shock, and I won’t pretend it doesn’t really sting.”
Mientus added that he’s staying “optimistic that we find a new home.”
Hailing from Supernatural co-showrunner Andrew Dabb and starring Abubakr Ali (Katy Keene) as the masked vigilante from the award-winning Matt Wagner/Dark Horse comic books, Grendel was to follow Hunter Rose, a gifted fencer, writer and assassin who, in seeking to avenge the death of a lost love, goes to war with New York’s criminal underworld. Except then he realizes, “Why beat them, when you can join them?”
The Grendel cast also included Jaime Ray Newman (Midnight, Texas) as Jocasta Rose, Julian Black Antelope (Tribal) as Argent, Madeline Zima (Californication) as Liz Sparks, Kevin Corrigan (The Godfather of Harlem) as Barry Palumbo, child actress Emma Ho as Stacy Palumbo, Erik Palladino (NCIS: Los Angeles) as Teddy Ciccone and Brittany Allen (Falling Water) as Annabelle Wright.
That’s just so weird. Why wouldn’t you just release it?
Maybe it needed too much $$$ in post. If they weren’t happy with the show then they could save on that plus marketing.
And I think there has been a strategy by some writers/directors/showrunners to half arse a project if they don’t have creative control. Then, when the final product is bad, they get more money and shoot what they wanted to shoot in the first place. I think NF sort of handed out blank checks in this regard until very recently.
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NF shows aren’t the MCU or Star Wars. They can’t pour another 50-100million into a project and expect it to make a profit.
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If the first run isn’t good, they aren’t going to spend way more to fix it. They’ll just trash it.
Yeah I’m not sure why they won’t release it if it’s already filmed. Do they stand to gain anything from shelving it?? Is this like the WarnerDiscovery situation?
I would imagine by it’s genre that it is effects heavy and that is actually the greatest expense in producing this type of show. If that process has not yet occurred then killing it now could save tens of millions in production costs.
it’s not overly FX heavy. no one can fly…Argent is basically a werewolf (Native American who is cursed and living out he’s life as a biped wolf) and lots of acrobatic/martial arts fighting.
Been waiting to see this since reading the series in the 80s.
If it’s bad, and they don’t see any upside as far as gaining more subs etc, then a tax write off might be the answer – as long as no one has seen it, it can be entirely written off. Obviously that is what makes most financial sense for them right now. If it was great, they’d release it.
That’s Warners/Discovery’s motto! I can see more play or pay clauses coming.
Considering some of the absolute dogpoop Netflix allows to air, I’m not buying the “it wasn’t good enough” angle.
This seems weird. The Warners/Discovery was one thing, an overpriced merger now resulting in lawsuits. But wat is Netflix’s excuse? I can see this one on Hulu.
selfishly i hope they are doing this so they can free up some money for sandman season 2