I heard a plausible theory about why some people don't care about continuity and lore in IPs (it's from Madam Savvy, 23:09-23:33). Her belief is that this comes out of fanfic communities (she specifies Tumblr, but I believe it applies more broadly), where the point is to create a new continuity that serves the (usually romantic) ambitions of the writer. The original work becomes background material to create something new and only matters as a point of reference. This theory makes sense to me because it fits with how writers in the current era approach source material. It also explains their bewilderment and frustration with the majority who don't see it this way, as from their frame of reference change is the point.
You can see how the fanfic approach can work in projects aimed at women where romance is the key element: Barbie, Bridgerton, Wednesday, Riverdale, etc. In these shows the source material is just a springboard to do whatever the creators want. Fanfic is dominated by (and mostly consumed by) women, so shows with that audience are open to that approach. In terms of popular taste this seems to only work in situations where romance is key. This approach largely fails with male audiences. Men, who also tend to be more interested in war and history, tend to put more emphasis on lore and continuity (a staple in comics, classic fantasy, and so on). The one exception to this rule, at least in the US, is older Hispanic men, who will seemingly watch anything, but they are too small a market to save any of these projects.
One of the other related elements to this, in the wake of The Acolyte being cancelled and rumours of Doctor Who not being renewed beyond its second season, is the lack of introspection from their (few) fans. There's no acknowledgement that the product is too niche for most. No one reflects on that if the show is meant for a modern audience, why isn't that audience showing up? We are far removed from the network television days where time slot matters, so a small audience isn't due to executive interference (ala Firefly), it's a deliberate cold shoulder from viewers. Genre fans (Lord of the Rings, D&D, comic books, Star Trek, etc) all begin as niche communities and are taken for granted by modern adapters. Niche communities are heavily devoted to their IP, but that comes with heavy expectations that if not fulfilled, makes them enraged or indifferent. This fanfic mindset is omnipresent in interviews with Jessica Gao, Mindy Kaling, Leslye Headland, Zack Snyder, Alex Kurtzman, Lauren Hissrich, etc--they just don't get how or why this doesn't work.
This is an update less about breaking news than about shifting views in the industry. Last September CNBC put out a report on the Bog Iger/Bob Chapek drama at Disney that lead to the latter's dismissal and the return of Iger. Now The New York Times is repeating the same information, but this time it's receiving broad coverage, suggesting that criticism of Iger is being permitted (no doubt due to Disney's continued struggles, with its primary success being the IP Chapek pushed forward, Deadpool vs Wolverine). In terms of the substance, it just repeats that Iger thought Chapek was a 'yes man' for him to continue ruling without the position, and when that didn't happen he sabotaged Chapek's position. All the fails on Chapek's watch were Iger projects and that seems to have sunk in to some extent.
I never spoke about Beau DeMayo's surprising dismissal from the animated reboot of X-Men 97 (something I did not watch because, despite enjoying the X-Men comics that it was based on, I wasn't a fan of the 97 series) back in March, although I did mention Beau tossing the writers of The Witcher and Witcher: Blood Origin under the bus for hating the source material (which wasn't surprising, but having it said was amusing). DeMayo finished writing for the second season after which he was fired without explanation. As a gay black man, it was a surprise move by Disney (it's hard not to connect this to Chris Gore's claim that Disney was pushing out activists) and now (August) they are claiming he was fired due to sexual impropriety (according to the usually reliable Jeff Schneider, it was for sending explicit photos of himself to young male staffers for 'inspiration', as well as groping an assistant--this kind of behaviour is also allegedly why he was let go from The Witcher). I don't know if any of that is true and DeMayo is threatening legal action, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Lost in all this is that the reboot was (relatively) popular, unlike the rest of the MCU on D+.
Rumour-monger RPK (who has a mixed track record) is reiterating a rumour from The Direct that both Blade and Armor Wars are near to being scrapped. You'll be forgiven for thinking the latter, a War Machine vehicle, was already scrapped (no news since 2022), but that's technically not the case. As for Blade, given it's innumerable issues (mostly due to star Ali rejecting Disney's various terrible notions, cf), this would not be very surprising, albeit embarrassing to Disney. Neither sources for this are consistently reliable, but both are MCU shills so it's less likely for them to invent this for clicks. I'd consider Armor Wars gone and Blade as possibly gone.
There hasn't been a meaningful Red Sonja update in over a year, but we finally got one which simply reiterates that the film still can't find a distributor. Andre's theory (link above) that the film is too much a product of a bygone era to seems entirely on-target. What had been a typical modern era girl boss film was toned down by the director, but that basis remains such that it's unlikely to appeal to anyone. We won't know for sure until it appears, but I have to wonder at this point if it ever will appear and that may be for the best.
Fallout for the numerous Neil Gaiman accusations is finally starting to happen. He's had one project, based on The Graveyard Book (2008, whose production has floated around since 2009), cancelled by Disney due to the allegations. Shortly after that, a third season of Good Omens (a show that didn't need a second season, much less a third) has also been cancelled by Amazon for the same reason. That leaves his Sandman series on Netflix still ongoing, although it's spinoff (Dead Boy Detectives) was cancelled after one season (illustrating again that 'critically-praised' has nothing to do with anything)--it's less clear if this was based on the charges or not. Gaiman is up to seven accusers and his second ex-wife has intimated there might be a dozen more, so it will be interesting to see what happens to Sandman and his career generally. There's been no follow-up on Chuck Wendig, as no one has (yet) come out to accuse him, so despite hearing he has a similar reputation nothing is on the docket.
Much more under the radar is the Ashley Johnson court case (now best known for Critical Role, but also for The Last of Us, The Avengers, and so on). About a year ago she joined a lawsuit against her ex, Brian Foster. The suit itself was reported on and then Johnson, on her own, attempted to get a restraining order in place, but six months ago this was dismissed with prejudice and Foster made a counter suit to recover the legal costs (peanuts for Johnson, but very costly for Foster). No one has covered this and I have no idea how it was resolved. In the meantime, the group has dropped their controversial lawyer, but the suit itself continues (in the article Foster implies that the lawyer played a large role in the suit being filed in the first place, something he has an incentive to claim, but doesn't mean it's not plausible). This is a rare case where a much more famous individual has sued their partner and the tea leaves do not read well for Johnson. I'm curious to see what happens and while normally a case like this would be resolved in an out of court settlement, Foster's reputation is ruined, so I expect he has to see this through and win to reclaim it (he's beyond the point of what happened to Chris Hardwick, who was cancelled at the height of the Me-Too movement in 2018, only to be quickly returned to his position when his accuser refused to cooperate with an investigation and said she simply wanted to 'move on').
It has been four years since the Midnight's Edge drama between MechaRandom42 and Tom Connors and I was curious how the former was doing when the dust settled. Clearly it has been a disaster for her, with the channel struggling to get 1k views for videos. That reality has nothing to do with who was right or wrong in the dispute, but it is interesting (albeit not surprising) to see she could not maintain viewership without the connection (all her co-hosts on Midnight's Edge After Dark who took her side also seem to have disappeared into oblivion). The commentary space is very crowded and visibility is difficult to obtain and even harder to keep.
A final note. As the economics of the DEI/ESG strategy fails in the entertainment sphere, to the point where it begins to threaten the companies promoting it, it's created a conundrum for CEOs. How to get rid of the least competent people screaming about it without being criticized for the hypocrisy? In some cases this is done quietly (payouts with NDAs), but I've noticed a tactic made possible by the Israel-Palestine conflict. This situation is one of the only ones where self-described progressives actually oppose the establishment by supporting Palestinians (a scenario where the anti-establishment right supports the establishment, so there's no counternarrative to be concerned with). This allows the establishment to use DEI rules to deplatform people who are otherwise sacrosanct. Folks who are fully onboard with the entire theology are being cast out because support of Palestinians is construed as 'antisemitism'. It's notable that few (any?) people in positions of corporate power are saying anything about the conflict and I think it's entirely for this reason (despite being the perfect scenario for the supposedly anti-colonial, anti-white, anti-Western ideology). Organizations like the SFWA, who have been loyally singing the DEI song for years, have been kicked out using this as leverage. These removals is not an indication of any major shift in policy, but merely a way to excise elements that interfer with the important matter of making money. What I'd expect as a result of this is an effort to continue the policies with less noise, going the Baldur's Gate 3 route of having it everywhere but without the incessant shrieking.
This article was written by Peter Levi
