In the wake of Jupiter's Legacy being canceled by Netflix after just one season, details have emerged on the factors that led to the show's fleeting existence.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, several problems proved fatal for the show, including initial showrunner Steven DeKnight requesting a budget of $12 million for each episode of Jupiter's Legacy. Netflix would end up opting to shell out $9 million per episode. Eventually, the show ran over budget, while DeKnight's "creative differences" with Netflix led to him departing the production. Sang Kyu Kim took over as showrunner afterward.
Once cameras stopped rolling, post-production on Jupiter's Legacy also proved fraught with challenges. Things became so difficult that Lupin director Louis Letterier was hired as a last-minute consultant for the show. An executive shift at Netflix also proved problematic, according to THR. Former Vice-President of original content at Netflix Cindy Holland was the one who originally greenlit Jupiter's Legacy, but she left the streamer towards the end of 2020. Holland's replacement, Bela Bajaria, was heavily critical of this program from the former executive team. "Unless the show is an undisputed hit, it's going to fall under the microscope," a Jupiter's Legacy insider remarked.
All of these issues led to Jupiter's Legacy's budget spiraling to a massive level. While a Netflix source claimed the whole season cost $130 million to produce, multiple individuals claim Jupiter's Legacy ended up running a price tag upwards of $200 million. While all of these problems helped pave the way for Jupiter's Legacy's demise, a Netflix source notes that the streamer is not done with projects hailing from Mark Millar's Millarworld. A spin-off set in Legacy's universe focusing on supervillains called Supercrooks is currently in development at Netflix.
Jupiter's Legacy stars Josh Duhamel as The Utopian, Ben Daniels as Brainwave, Leslie Bibb as Lady Liberty, Elena Kampouris as Chloe Sampson, Andrew Horton as Brandon Sampson, Mike Wade as The Flare, Anna Akana as Raikou and Matt Lanter as Skyfox. The entire series is available on Netflix now.
Source: THR