Richard Gere Drama Series Bastards Not Going Forward At Apple

Apple will not be proceeding with its planned eight-episode drama series Bastards, starring Richard Gere based on the Israeli format Nevelot. The project, from Howard Gordon and Warren Leight, hails from Fox 21 Television Studios, Gordons 20th TV-based Teakwood Lane Productions and Keshet Studios.

The series, about two Army vets going on a killing spree to avenge the death of a loved one, had been an outlier at Apple from the get-go, considered darker in tone and edgier in subject matter than the rest of the streamers slate.

From the beginning, there had been talk about Apples family-friendly global brand and how its original scripted programming foray would fit into it. Disney had been open about only putting family-friendly fare on Disney+. If a series evolved in a direction where it became too adult or dark, the streamer would not proceed with it. That was the case with the High Fidelity reboot, which moved to Hulu.

Meanwhile, Apple, like most Silicon Valley companies who are closely guarding information, has been notoriously secretive about its programming strategy. There had been chatter about a focus on family programming, which had been supported by anecdotal evidence: the fact that Dr. Dres series Vital Signs, commissioned before Apple officially entered the original scripted arena, was reportedly shelved over graphic content, and one of Apples first officially announced scripted shows, an Amazing Stories reboot, saw its original writer exit, allegedly in part over the series being steered into PG-13 territory.

However, Apple TV+ bosses are said to have embraced edgier content, with one of the streamers first series to come out, Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell, veering into dark territory and featuring F-bombs in its dialogue. I hear that also was the case with Bastards, which Apple landed in a competitive situation almost a year ago. The original series was violent, so Apples commitment to the adaptation raised eyebrows when it was first announced last December.

Yet, I hear that Apple programming executives were on board with the producers vision for the series, but that started to change once scripts started to come in. I hear there was an attempt to lighten the tone and shift the series creative direction, which the creative team ultimately was not comfortable doing, leading to Apple pulling the plug on the series, a move that was accompanied by a penalty payable to the studio.

The news comes amid persistent chatter over the past month about a possible examination of Apples scripted slate by company toppers in Cupertino. So far, Bastards is the only series known to have been put in turnaround.

Written by Gordon and showrun by Gordon and Leight, Bastards, whose shelving was first reported by THR, centers on two elderly Vietnam vets and best frRead More – Source