Back in 2018, Kevin Smith announced to his fans that he had just completed a “huge writing gig” on a “massive IP” that he couldn’t disclose at the time. Clearly, Smith was pumped about the secret project as seen in his tweet below.
Just finished a huge writing gig that I haven’t talked about publicly yet. It’s the most massive IP I’ve ever been allowed to play with and if the powers that be decide to move forward with the project, it would be the biggest budgeted anything I’ve ever done. Wish me luck…
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) July 29, 2018
The years went by, however, and not a word from Smith on this mysterious writing gig — until now. In a tweet debunking a recent report from Attractions Magazine, the Jay And Silent Bob writer and director revealed that the secret project was adapting the Kingdoms Keeper book series for Disney+. Unfortunately, he also revealed that his take on the franchise was canned by an exec who didn’t like how many characters Smith was using in the show.
That was a blast to write 2 years ago. It was planned as one of the first shows to launch on what would become @disneyplus. Then a new exec was put in charge of the app and he killed KK. Said we used too much @Disney IP in one project (every character in the park comes to life). https://t.co/8izGTsg10H
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) April 5, 2020
As Comic Book notes, the exec’s concerns are a bit odd considering the nature of the Kingdom Keepers book series, which is centered on featuring every character inside Disney parks.
For those not familiar, The Kingdom Keepers is a series of novels by Ridley Pearson that follows five teens who work as holographic hosts of the Disney Theme Parks by day, but by night, they do battle with Disney villains to stop them from taking over not just the Disney parks, but the entirety of the Disney corporation as well as the world. Given the huge number of characters that could appear in Disney parks — and we’re not talking just your standard Mickey and Minnie situation here, we’re talking potentially even Marvel and Star Wars characters if they really wanted to go there — a Kingdom Keepers series really could encompass a truly wild number of characters.
While his Twitter fans were quick to question the decision, Smith, as always, acted as the friendly mediator and said there are no hard feelings considering that same exec made some other decisions that Smith was very okay with, Namely greenlighting The Mandalorian and Wandavision.
The @disneyplus exec may have scrapped Kingdom Keepers, but he’s also the guy who said “Let’s do @starwars & @MarvelStudios shows!” So as much as I would’ve liked to make my show, I’m much happier watching #TheMandolorian and can’t wait for #WandaVision. #FanFirstFilmmakerSecond https://t.co/XPYoG5iTAy
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) April 5, 2020
Granted, Smith seems at peace with how things unfolded, but he is also not being bashful about signaling to Disney fans that they might have missed out on a series that would’ve captured their deep love for the House of Mouse.
Thanks, man! It was written with love by a kid who grew up watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” with his family every Sunday night. I renamed the main characters after the original team of Imagineers who worked w/ Walt. Felt like they overpaid me to write @Disney fan fiction! https://t.co/GpZypWuWYK
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) April 5, 2020
(Via Kevin Smith on Twitter, Comic Book)