Timelines for two Will Smith projects have been changed, with one delayed amid the fallout from the Oscars slap, and a second reportedly canceled though “unrelated to the incident.”
Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw wrote in a tweet that Netflix’s Bright 2, the sequel to David Ayer’s big-budget 2017 film, has been canned:
While the original wasn’t critically acclaimed, it was one of the biggest releases for Netflix at that point and did find some fans. The sequel was announced a month after its release, in January 2018. Smith starred as Daryl Ward, an LAPD detective in a world where humans and different types of creatures—like orcs, elves, and fairies—coexist. A spinoff animated series titled Bright: Samurai Soul was slated for 2021, though it’s unclear if or when it will debut.
Will Smith’s National Geographic nature series Pole to Pole also got delayed, per a source-citing Bloomberg report. The show was supposed to chronicle the actor’s travels to the South and North Poles. Pole to Pole would be Smith’s third series with NatGeo, following 2018’s One Strange Rock and 2021’s Welcome to Earth. Production will now reportedly begin in the fall rather than next month.
According to Bloomberg, the NatGeo delay is related to Smith’s Oscars controversy, while the Netflix cancelation isn’t. Smith has seen additional delays in projects like the action pic Fast and Loose with Netflix. But the streaming service’s crime biopic The Council, as well as another installation of Bad Boys, seem to be moving forward.
