Animator Nick Cross (Infinity Train, Craig of the Creek) — who was attached to executive produce Netflix’s planned adaptation of Jeff Smith’s beloved independent comic book Bone — has offered his thoughts on the animated series’ abrupt cancellation.
“Well, looks like the word is out,” Cross wrote on Twitter, implying that the show’s creative team was aware of its cancellation before the news went public. “I was co-executive producer for the Bone series at Netflix. It was going to be so good!! We had a great team and were finally trying to bring this story to life on the screen. <sigh>”
On Wednesday, April 20, TheWrap published an article in which it delved into some behind-the-scenes changes at Netflix Animation, including the firing of Netflix’s Director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation Phil Rynda, several well-received animated series not getting picked up for new seasons and several more upcoming series, Bone included, being unceremoniously scrapped. According to TheWrap, Netflix itself directly confirmed Bone‘s cancellation.
Written and illustrated by the aforementioned Smith, Bone is a comic book series that initially ran for a total of 55 issues from 1991 to 2004. Smith self-published Bone through his Cartoon Books label for issues #1-20. The series was then published by Image Comics for issues #21-27 before jumping back to Cartoon Books for issues #28-55. Bone follows cousins FoWarne Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone, who are run out of their hometown of Boneville and soon find themselves in a magical valley.
In October 2019, it was announced that Netflix would be adapting Bone into a 2D animated series. “I’ve waited a long time for this,” Smith said at the time. “Netflix is the perfect home for Bone. Fans of the books know that the story develops chapter-by-chapter and book-by-book. An animated series is exactly the way to do this! The team at Netflix understands Bone and is committed to doing something special — this is good news for kids and cartoon lovers all over the world.”
Prior to this, Nickelodeon Movies attempted to produce a film adaptation of Bone in the 1990s, though the project was canceled, as Smith objected to the studio’s plans to include pop music in the soundtrack, which would have compromised his vision for the film. Years later, Warner Bros. acquired the film rights to Bone and began actively developing a trilogy of 3D-animated movies around 2016, though these plans ultimately fell through in favor of Netflix’s series. With its own cancellation, the Netflix series joins the list of unproduced Bone adaptations.
Source: Twitter
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