Disney Scraps Live Action Reboot of the Cult Classic Fantasy Series Gargoyles

Attempts to reboot Disney's ‘90s animated series Gargoyles seem to be as cursed as the eponymous heroes, who were frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Series co-creator Greg Weisman told ComicsOnline that a planned live action series for Disney Plus is dead, and he has no idea if there will be other attempts to revive the cult classic.

Gargoyles ran from 1994 to 1996 as part of a wave of kids animation with sophisticated characters and plots that included Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series. The show focused on serialized rather than episodic storytelling, kicking off with a five-parter that introduced the nocturnal guardians who turn to stone during the day. They emerge in Manhattan thanks to the schemes of the eccentric billionaire David Xanatos (Jonathan Frakes), who turned a Scottish castle into a skyscraper.

While Batman: The Animated Series has a spiritual successor in Batman: Caped Crusaderand X-Men: The Animated Series has continued as X-Men ‘97, the Gargoyles have never returned to television. The latest reboot attempt didn’t involve Weisman or any of the original team and shifted the story to make Goliath the last gargoyle instead of the leader of the only surviving clan. Goliath would have been trying to uncover the mystery of his own past while working alongside NYPD detective Elisa Maza, which seemed like a set-up for a supernatural police procedural rather than the genre-bending Shakespearean drama Gargoyles was known for.

Disney has been scaling back its streaming ambitions recently, canceling Wonder Man after one season and scrapping plans for a Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot. However, there may still be hope for the Gargoyles. Brent Spiner, who was a regular voice actor on Gargoyles along with many other Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members, mentioned a new animated series was in the works during an August appearance on the podcast he co-hosts with Frakes.