If you thought the idea of a live-actionFinal Fantasy XIVseries sounded like a massive undertaking, you’d be right. One of the executive producers, Dinesh Shamdasani of Hivemind Entertainment, recently confirmed that the project has been canceled.
When asked about the status of the live-actionFinal Fantasy XIVonTwitter, Shamdasani straight up said it’s “dead.” While they had a “fantastic pilot script” by Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton (Winter’s Knight) and a multi-season plan, everything was rejected. According to Shamdasani, it was the risk inherent to the “size and scale” of the project that ultimately did it in. Apparently, Amazon came the closest to footing the bill for this one.
Dead. We took around a fantastic pilot script by Ben Lustig &@jakethorntonalong with a multi-season plan they built with our show runners but got rejected across the board. The size and scale needed to do it right proved too much for anyone to want to risk. Amazon came closest.
Writer Jake Thorntonchimed in, as well, citing Covid as one of the culprits behind the decision. “We took it out just as studios began to zip up their purse strings,” Thornton added.
As for whether or not animation would be more suitable for something likeFinal Fantasy XIV, Shamdasani was quick to put an end to any further hope for the series, at least for now. Not only did he say thatanimation would be more difficult, he mentioned that they no longer have the rights to the title.
Eorzea out of sight
Plans for the live-actionFinal Fantasy XIVwerefirst revealed back in 2019, and had Square Enix teaming up with Sony Pictures Television and Hivemind. The initial announcement promised a new story set in Eorzea along with series mainstays like Chocobos, airships, and even the “live-action debut of Cid.”
Hivemind previously worked with Netflix onThe Witcherand with Amazon onThe Expanse, so the experience and potential was there. For the time being, at least we’ll always haveDad of Light.
