Way back in 2019, Netflix secured the rights to Jeff Smith’s Bone with plans to turn the acclaimed comic book into an animated series. But following three years of radio silence, the project’s latest journey to screens has reached its end. According to The Wrap, Netflix has quietly cancelled its Bone adaptation.
The series’ cancellation comes amid massive shakeups at Netflix HQ. Specifically, the Kids & Family division of its animation studio. Just this week, Phil Rynda, who previously served as Netflix’s Director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation, was fired along with “several” of his staff. The report also claims that sometime during the past few years, Netflix has gone from a booming hub of “talent and creativity” to a web of “corporate pressure, mixed messages and accusations of ‘staged data.’”
These changes are also likely the result of recent subscriber losses. Earlier this week, Netflix reported a loss of 200,000 subscribers during its last quarter. This in turn caused its stock to fall more than 30%. Regardless, Bone isn’t the only victim. Other high-profile animated projects have been either scrapped or retooled. That includes Lauren Faust’s Toil and Trouble and an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, which may now see release as a feature film.
RELATED: Netflix is Turning Jeff Smith’s Bone Into an Animated Series
Smith originally published Bone from 1991 to 2004, completing 55 issues of the series in total. The story introduced the three Bone cousins (Phoney, Smiley, and Fone) who discover a world filled with mystical creatures after being exiled from their village. A film adaptation previously languished in development hell for years, with both Nickelodeon Movies and Warner Bros. trying (and ultimately failing) to produce their own respective versions.
What are your thoughts on Bone’s demise at Netflix? Are you hoping the project is resurrected elsewhere? Sound off in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading – Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume
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