Disney+ Just Canceled A Major Show Before It Could Premiere

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Disney+ has created several original series, but they haven’t all lasted very long. Some shows were canceled after just one season, while others made it to two. It’s also common for shows to be canceled even before they air. Recently, Disney+ decided not to move forward with a highly anticipated series that was in development.

Disney+ has decided not to proceed with a TV series based on Louis Sachar’s popular 1998 novel, Holes, which was previously made into a 2003 film by Disney. According to Variety, a pilot episode was filmed, written by Alina Mankin and with Liz Phang as showrunner. Jac Schaeffer, known for creating WandaVision and Agatha All Along, directed the pilot, but the streaming service has chosen not to order a full series.

This new adaptation of Holes will be quite different from the book and the popular movie from the early 2000s. The series will reimagine the story with a cast of teenage girls sent to a detention camp where they are forced to dig holes. Shay Rudolph will play the lead character, Hayley, and Greg Kinner and Aidy Bryant have been cast as the camp warden and a counselor. Additional actors have also joined the project to play campers and staff.

Over two decades ago, a star-studded cast including Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, and Shia LaBeouf brought Louis Sachar’s story to the big screen. Directed by Andrew Davis, the film centers on Stanley Yelnats, played by LaBeouf, a young man wrongly convicted and sent to a juvenile detention camp where he uncovers a decades-old mystery. The movie was generally well-received by critics and proved to be a financial success, earning over $71 million globally on a $20 million budget.

It wasn’t clear when the Holes reboot would appear on Disney+ – whether with the 2026 shows or at a later date. The reason Disney+ decided to cancel it is also unclear. It could be for many reasons, such as a poor response to the pilot episode or concerns about the show’s potential cost. I’m definitely curious about what Disney+ subscribers were missing out on with this canceled series.

Disney+ hasn’t always had consistent success with shows for teens and young adults. Several series targeted at this audience have been canceled in recent years. For instance, in 2023, popular shows like Big Shot and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers were removed from the platform, as was the reboot of Willow. These cancellations were followed by a large-scale removal of other shows from the streaming service.

I’ve been really enjoying what Disney+ has been trying with shows aimed at young adults, and it’s definitely not been a total miss! Right now, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a huge success for them – I’m actually watching the second season as it comes out. It’s so good they’ve already given it the green light for a third season, which is awesome!

It’s unclear what the future holds for young adult shows on Disney+, but it appears the Holes series has been quietly cancelled.

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2025-12-14 18:38