Summary
Last week,Rolling Stonereported accusations against Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman of cultivating an abusive workplace with his “toxic, bullying, manipulative, and retaliatory behaviour”.
In the wake of this news, Netflix has reportedly cancelled two of Blackman’s projects, one of which was theHorizon Zero Dawnadaptation.
Blackman allegedly made remarks on set that were considered sexist, homophobic, and transphobic.
Sony announced the Horizon Zero Dawn TV series two years agoduring a business briefing Q&A as part of its strategy to “leverage beyond gaming”. We’ve already seen this strategy in action withthe Uncharted filmandLast of Us HBO series, but plenty more projects are on the way from aGod of WarAmazon series to aGhost of Tsushimamovie.
PlayStation has also been pushing Horizon Zero Dawn as a major flagship for the console, now boasting a VR spin-off and an upcomingLego adaptation which is even launching on rival platform Nintendo Switch. What will happen to its plans for a TV show following Netflix’s cancellation, however, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Netflix Has Yet To Officially Comment On The Allegations
Rolling Stone reached out to Netflix for comment following its report on the allegations against Blackman, but Netflix declined. It later learned the aforementioned news that Orbital and Horizon Zero Dawn were “no longer moving forward with Blackman”.
A representative for Blackman then told Rolling Stone that he “has a long, ongoing, and close working relationship with Netflix” and “continues to work on new projects”. They even claimed that he “signed a new multi-year deal earlier this year.”
Netflix declined to comment on these claims, too. It’s unclear then what Blackman’s future looks like at the streaming service, but his two upcoming shows have reportedly been scrapped.
Horizon Zero Dawn (dupe)
Horizon Zero Dawn follows a member of the Nora tribe, Aloy, as she looks to answer questions about her past. An action role-playing game, it sees her navigate a huge open world filled with other tribes and ferocious mechanical beasts, while uncovering the mystery of GAIA.
Netflix
Netflix is a streaming service that offers a large number of movies, TV shows, and documentaries. Some of these are Netflix’s own original creations, while others are licensed by the company.
