Sam Esmail’s Metropolis Sci-Fi Series Cancelled Amid Ongoing WGA Strike

Our trip to the world of Metropolis has officially been cancelled: Sam Esmail’s adaptation of Fritz Lang’s classic 1927 sci-fi film has been scrapped, our sister site Deadline first reported.

The series’ fate had been in limbo for weeks, as script drafts had not been finished before the May 2 start of the writers strike. Decisions on budgets and other key pre-production elements were also left undone at that time. Rising costs of the building and holding of expansive stages, plus labor intensive VFX work also affected the decision to abandon ship. After evaluating the money spent so far and future financial risks, UCP chose to not move forward with the series and alerted their partners at Apple TV+.