The Netflix live-action series adaption of PlayStation’s Horizon Zero Dawn video game is officially dead. The series was recently greenlit at Netflix and was originally meant to kick off production this year. The show was going to be spearheaded by Steve Blackman who was announced as the producer back in 2022.
Steve Blackman is responsible for Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy which is about to wrap up its final season. However, recent allegations regarding Blackman’s work environment started to rock the boat at Netflix.
Blackman was accused of making lewd, sexist, homophobic and transphobic remarks around the workplace. Reports also claimed he began taking credit for other people’s work, started pitting staff members against one another and created a workplace full of fear and distrust.
Rolling Stone reports Blackman would often say things like “They’re he/she” but then follow up with “It’s all good, I support it. It’s awesome, live your best life” only after no one would laugh alongside his original statement. Other staff members claim that if you were female, you were treated with hostility or like you were “stupid”.
The report is full of these allegations which paint Blackman as quite a vile human being. As a result, Netflix has cancelled both in-development projects Steve Blackman was working on. This includes the Horizon Zero Dawn live-action series and the new original series, Orbital.
At the moment, Rolling Stone says these projects have been cancelled with Steve Blackman and they will no longer move forward. However, Netflix also says that Blackman will continue to work on other new projects as Blackman has recently signed a multi-year deal with the company.
There’s still a chance that the Horizon Zero Dawn series will be picked up by someone else at Netflix. At the moment, its future seems quite grimm. Netflix hasn’t commented on the state of the show.
Source: Rolling Stone
