Disney Plus axes classic sci-fi adventure series, leaving its vengeance-seeking anti-hero from 1869 without a home

No, there is no stopping Disney as less than 24 hours after canceling The Spiderwick Chronicles, the studio has abandoned another series, this time a live-action adaptation of the origin story of a classic anti-hero who has been polarizing many with his actions since the later 1800s.

Given the state of streaming content and the likes of Prime Video canceling shows it officially renewed mere months ago, expecting anything to be safe would be a pipe dream. Getting explicitly renewed doesn’t mean squat and evidently, neither does completing the production as Disney Plus has gone ahead and announced that it won’t be moving forward with Nautilus, the classic adventure sci-fi series that was set to depict the origin story of 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas’ conflicting anti-hero and Indian prince, Captain Nemo.

The character first appeared in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas novel, serialized from 1869 to 1870, followed by his inclusion by authors in books like Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius, The Secret Sea, etc. The book and especially the character of Nemo has been adapted many times, with the likes of Patrick Stewart, Michael Caine, Ben Cross, etc. playing the character on-screen. Nautilus would have seen (and could still see) Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery, Spooks, Penny Dreadful) become the mysterious helmer of his submarine, embark on daring adventures, and probably wage war against imperialism the character sorely detested.

The series — also including a beloved Loki star — started filming back in February 2022 after being announced in 2021 and was expected to wrap up sometime in January 2023. Nautilus is one of the many shows and films that have inadvertently become the scapegoat in Disney’s ruthless cost-cutting measures. As reported by Deadline, the show has been canceled by the Mouse House for the same reason it axed, abandoned, and deleted other shows — to save money and as Disney says, to better shape the streamer’s programming approach.

At least, unlike shows like Willow that don’t have a home anymore, Disney Plus is working actively with the production team of the series to shop it elsewhere.