Overview
- The Apple TV deal for the Tom Wolfe adaptation collapsed after months of development, with multiple outlets reporting the streamer chose not to move forward.
- Sources say the parties were not creatively aligned and that David E. Kelley was unhappy with how Apple handled the project.
- Kelley was set to write and executive produce while Matt Reeves was to direct and executive produce, with Warner Bros. Television and 6th and Idaho Productions attached.
- The novel is widely seen as difficult to adapt and the story carries baggage from a 1990 film that failed critically and commercially, which helps explain the high stakes around creative control.
- Warner Bros. Television and Kelley’s company are shopping the series to other networks or streamers, a step that could delay or change the creative team and that leaves the project’s future uncertain while Kelley continues to work with Apple on other series.