Summary

  • Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav halted the Tucker & Dale TV spinoff project.
  • Zaslav's decision was not surprising, as he has a history of canceling film releases.
  • Despite the setback, a Tucker & Dale sequel/spinoff is still a possibility, so fans should not lose hope.

Horror-comedy fans were this close to getting something they'd been waiting years for until the cinematic boogeyman himself came along and pulled the plug. Hollywood really can be a cruel, unforgiving place.

2010's horror-comedy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil—which stars Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine as two ragged hillbillies mistaken for murderers—came and went without much fanfare at the box office upon release, not even managing to gross $250,000 in the United States. All cinephiles know box office numbers are never the end of the story, and Tucker & Dale became a cult hit thanks to positive word of mouth and solid critical reviews. As such, plans to get a sequel off the ground came and went over the years. Writer/director Eli Craig spent time grinding away on a new Tucker & Dale when he wasn't working on Zombieland: The Series, Little Evil, or recent minor hit Clown in a Cornfield. As it turns out, one person in particular stopped a Tucker & Dale spinoff from hitting television screens.

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Eli Craig recently sat down for an exclusive with SlashFilm, and the director elaborated that none other than Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav is responsible for stopping the Tucker & Dale television spinoff in its tracks. "It's always been a struggle," Craig stated. "...[T]hen, when we do set it up, and we get all the pieces together, it gets killed somehow. We almost did a TV show with it that was on TNT/TBS, and you'll be happy to know that David Zaslav, the slayer of all cinema, came in and put the final nail in the coffin for Tucker & Dale as we were about to go to series, and just cancelled all production."

"[I]t was more like Tucker & Dale, but detectives. Detective Tucker and Dale, like, stupidly trying to figure out what's happening in a world where they're always getting it wrong and people are dying around them."

David Zaslav Robbed The Masses Of More Alan Tudyk-Tyler Labine Shenanigans

It'll come as no great shock to cinema fans everywhere that the notorious David Zaslav had his hand in shelving a new Tucker & Dale project. After all, this is the man who has canceled the release of multiple finished films. Anyone who was counting on watching Batgirl, Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, or Coyote vs. Acme (hey, you'll actually be able to watch that last one!) Knows that Zaslav is all about the bottom line at any cost he deems necessary.

In this case, it cost horror-comedy fans more of the delightful pairing of character acting greats Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine. Thanks to the popularity of Firefly, every Walt Disney Animation Studios film since 2012, and his numerous voice acting gigs over the years, Tudyk is undoubtedly the more well-known of the duo. That being said, Labine is certainly no slouch. The Canadian-born actor has been a mainstay on television for decades now, appearing in everything from Invasion and New Amsterdam to Reaper and Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Nabbing Tudyk and Labine in the first place was an utter coup for Craig and company. Getting them to return for more would simply be the icing on the cake. When speaking to SlashFilm, Craig mentioned that a Tucker & Dale sequel/spinoff is "always a possibility" and that fans should keep their hopes alive. If there is one thing this world needs, it's definitely a little more horror-comedy.

Source: SlashFilm