Disney+ abruptly pulls the plug on Book Of Enchantment over its dark direction

Deadline

The TV series adaptation of Serena Valentino five Villains novels was one of Disney+'s highest-profile projects, but it was apparently scuttled because it was too dark for Disney's family-oriented brand. "I hear the decision was largely creative, related to show’s tone and direction. It came down yesterday when the project was shut down 13 weeks into a writers room where a team had been working on scripts," reports Deadline's Nellie Andreeva. "Book of Enchantment had been in the works at Disney+ for almost a year. While it had not been formally greenlighted, budget conversations had been progressing, producers had scouted locations, and a May 2020 production start in the UK had been eyed...Book of Enchantment likely faced more intense scrutiny than other Disney+ shows because of its IP involving characters that are very important to the Disney canon. I hear as backup scripts started to come in, executives at the streaming platform felt the series was going into a darker direction than anticipated. Disney brass have been open about the brand identity of Disney+ as family-oriented service, something all of its programming has to conform with." Andreeva adds that there was an attempt to bring some levity to the show's tone with the help of a new producer shortly after July 4. "I hear that when the latest script came in this week and its tone was still darker than Disney+ executives wanted it to be, a decision was made to put an end of the project in this incarnation," says Andreeva.