It’s one of Netflix’s most popular series, but the platform just canceled its spin-off without telling us.

The small world of Netflix was rocked last week after a magazine article was published Rolling Stone which highlights the many allegations against Steve Blackman.

In particular, the showrunner of The Umbrella Academy has received numerous complaints against him for toxic and manipulative behavior during the writing of the series, which has led to harassment and even retaliation. Twelve former screenwriting colleagues testified against him.

While Blackman has defended himself against all attacks through his attorney, Netflix has not spoken on the matter. But an investigation provided by Rolling Stone allows us to learn something new about two series projects that he worked on that will therefore not see the light of day: an adaptation of the video game Horizon Zero Dawn, as well as a spin-off. Umbrella Academy centered on Sparrow Academy.

Goodbye sparrows

The characters of Sparrow Academy were introduced in 2022, in the 3rd season of Umbrella Academy. Our favorite characters really found themselves in an alternate reality, where Professor Hargreaves replaced them with much better students, especially the nasty ones: Marcus Hargreaves (Justin Cornwell), Ben (Justin H. Min), Faye (Brittyn Oldford), Alfonso (Jake Epstein). ), Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez), Jamie (Casey David) and Christopher Cobb.

Netflix announced that it was working on this spin-off in 2023, not knowing if it would ever see the light of day. Steve Blackman, who signed a $50 million contract with the platform, had to study it with an armada of screenwriters.

But it’s clear that the showrunner didn’t have the green light. Because of the allegations against him? We cannot say at this stage. Notably last year, the American giant met the same fate with Six of Crows, a Shadow and Bone spin-off. This can be a simple budgeting strategy…

In any case, this is very bad news for fans of The Umbrella Academy, who will have to settle for the fourth and final season of the highly anticipated series on August 8 on Netflix. And after that they will have to say goodbye to these superheroes like no other.