In a day and age when both Deadpool and Donald Glover are at the height of their popularity, it's immensely surprising that the much-anticipated FXX's animated Deadpool series never came together. After a nice long development period, the project -- which was set to come from the minds of Glover and his brother, Stephen -- was cancelled back in March, and the reason cited was "creative differences." Now FX CEO John Landgraf has shed a bit more light on the situation, and revealed that it was really Marvel that put the kibosh on the show:
They didn't want to do the show that Donald and Stephen [Glover] wrote. We would have done show that Donald and Stephen wrote, but it wasn't our decision. When Marvel decided not to do that show, we parted company with them as did Donald and Stephen. Now it's totally up to them [Marvel] whether they hire someone else to do a different show.
Speaking about the Deadpool animated series with Variety, John Landgraf admitted that the choice was really taken out of his hands when it came to the show, as it was really Marvel that said no to Donald and Stephen Glover's approach. According to the CEO, if he had his druthers the show would have been brought to air, but it was decided by the comic book company/the rights holders that they wanted to go in another direction.
In the months since the plans for the Deadpool show were cancelled, there has been support from some key individuals associated with the property, including the character's co-creator, Rob Liefeld, and Ryan Reynolds, who has played Deadpool in three movies now. Still, it's very unlikely that the iteration of the show that Donald and Stephen Glover had in mind will ever be made.
That, however, doesn't mean that there won't ever be an adult-oriented animated Deadpool show -- and, in fact, John Landgraf seems to be sure that one eventually will get made. When asked about the possibility of the FX version being brought back, he provided a very clear no, but then explained his confidence in another take potentially coming together. Said Langraf,
I think that Marvel will revive it, because they have the rights. They own the IP and they have the rights to do an animated adult series based on any of the X-Men characters, and based on Deadpool specifically.
For now, fans will just have to settle with the script that Donald Glover tweeted shortly after the series' early cancellation.
The good news is that while there is no Deadpool animated series right now, there are active collaborations between FX, Donald Glover, and Marvel -- though not all together. Atlanta, created by Glover, wrapped up its second season earlier this year, as did the X-Men comics-influenced Legion. Both are expected back with third seasons, and are planned for 2019.
