Sam Esmail’s ‘Metropolis’ Series Permanently Shuts Down Amid Writers Strike

Martin Holmes June 19, 2023, 9:33 am

Sam Esmail attends the Amazon Prime Experience — Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Sam Esmail‘s (Mr. Robot) big-budget sci-fi series Metropolis, based on the 1927 Fritz Lang movie of the same name, has been scrapped amid the ongoing writers strike and rising production costs.

As reported by Deadline, the ambitious Apple TV+ series, which had been prepping in Australia, has been permanently shut down, with the crew being notified the project will not be moving forward. Production was scheduled to begin over the summer.

“Push costs and uncertainty related to the ongoing strike led to this difficult decision,” a rep for UCP, the production studio behind the series, told Deadline.

Briana Middleton (The Tender Bar) was set to lead the series, with Lindy Booth (The Librarians) also tapped for a major role. Based on Thea von Harbou’s 1925 novel and screenplay, Metropolis is set in a futuristic dystopian society, where Freder, the privileged son of a city master, and Maria, a rebellious teacher, fight to overcome the city’s huge class divide and bring the workers together.

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Due to its broad scope and heavy use of special effects, the series was expected to amass a significant budget. This was made worse as the production drafts of the scripts had yet to be finished before the start of the writers’ strike, which delayed setting budgets and other crucial parts of pre-production.

The series was set to film in Australia in the state of Victoria, where it was projected to create nearly 4,000 jobs, according to Deadline. But the decision was made to scrap the project because of the rising costs related to the delay in production, the building and holding of expansive stages, and the intensive labor and visual effects work.

Esmail, who is best known as the creator, writer, and director of the award-winning series Mr. Robot, had been working on Metropolis for over seven years. He was expected to write, direct, and executive produce the eight-episode series, which was picked up by Apple TV+ last year.