‘Improve’ Producer Dishes On the TV Sequel That Nearly Was

Followers of Leigh Whannell’s sci-fi flick Upgrade might recall there was a degree the place it appeared prefer it’d get a sequel. It received introduced, then reworked right into a TV collection, after which…nothing, not a peep till final yr when Whannell mentioned the movie would keep a one-and-done. What’s the deal there?

Effectively based on Tim Walsh, the movie’s producer who was tapped to jot down and showrun the collection, the present confronted a number of obstacles earlier than getting canned. As he lately instructed BloodyDisgusting, he and Whannell bought the challenge to Peacock again in 2019. Then there was a “tumultuous time” on the planet, comparable to beginning his writers room “on the day the world shut down” because of the covid-19 pandemic.

One other roadblock was the Improve present’s plot: it will’ve been about 4 criminals lately implanted with the STEM chip within the hopes of reforming them, just like A Clockwork Orange. Walsh thinks it’d have been dangerous to air at a time when exhibits concerning the police and criminals have been “not in style,” seemingly referencing protests in opposition to police brutality in recent times and discussions of tv’s function in sanitizing them. However the largest killer to the challenge was above his pay grade—as he tells it, the writers have been prepared and scripts assembled when a Peacock higher-up was fired. Their eventual substitute then “got here in, thought they knew every little thing, and dropped the challenge.”

That’s the place Walsh’s involvement with the present ended, and he was candid in saying it “nonetheless hurts” it didn’t get made, although he’s certain there have been makes an attempt to revive it with out him. Regardless of how issues shook out, he nonetheless desires to workforce with Whannell once more, so possibly sometime he’ll get an opportunity to revive the Improve present or craft parts from it onto one thing else.

Need extra io9 information? Try when to count on the most recent Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and every little thing you could find out about the way forward for Doctor Who.