Donald Glover has taken to Twitter to break his silence on the canceled Deadpool: The Animated Series. Given a ten-episode series order by FX Networks last May, the show was to be written and produced by Glover and his brother Stephen, who also co-writes Atlanta, and both would have served as showrunners. To the dismay of many, the first solo cartoon for the Merc with a Mouth was announced as having its plug pulled over the weekend (March 24), with FX confirming the news citing “creative differences.”
“Due to creative differences, FX, Donald Glover, Stephen Glover and Marvel Television have agreed to part ways on Marvel’s ‘Deadpool’ animated series, FX will no longer be involved with the project,” the network stated.
Initially reported in Variety, the publication suggests that Deadpool may have been given the axe due to Donald Glover’s busy schedule that includes his upcoming appearance as the legendary Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, as Simba in Jon Favreau’s live-action adaptation of The Lion King, as well as working on his final album under his Childish Gambino moniker.
However, in the wee hours of Wednesday morning (March 28) Glover made a rare appearance on Twitter to contest the claim.
It would not be the final words fans got from Glover on the matter as he proceeded to post a 15-page mock-finale script to his account. The script follows a Bitcoin-obsessed Deadpool as he tries to save a northern white rhino in Africa. Filled with references to Ecko clothing, being a G-Unit fan, Sacramento PD, and reports that Sanaa Lathan bit Beyonce at a party, the script doesn’t seem to be out of the wheelhouse of Deadpool storyline but it’s clear as day that it was written with the purpose of being shared, and that it wasn’t the script meant to arrive on the screen.
Glover, seemingly as the voice of Marvel’s wall-breaking mercenary, explains that he’s not upset about his “canceled” series, questioning if our society needs “a violent, gun loving white man ranting on TV,” in addition to our volatile President.
The potential of a Deadpool animated series in the hands of the Glover brothers was certainly promising, considering the talent both men have displayed when it comes to crafting fully-realized narratives that carries weight with each punch. Fortunately for fans, Deadpool 2 is slated to hit theaters this summer with Ryan Reynolds returning to the title role, along with Josh Brolin as the time traveling Cable, and Glover’s Atlanta co-star Zazie Beetz as the mercenary Domino.