The Netflix TV series based on Sony Interactive Entertainment and Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn is in trouble amid toxic work culture allegations against showrunner Steve Blackman, according to the latest report.
Rolling Stones has reported that two of Umbrella Academy showrunner Steve Blackman’s projects that were in development at Netflix, a Horizon Zero Dawn series and an original series, Orbital, are no longer moving forward.
This apparent decision comes after the Umbrella Academy Showrunner was accused of “toxic, bullying, manipulative, and retaliatory behavior”. As per sources as well as an HR complaint, Steve Blackman fostered a toxic workplace environment due to his manipulative and chaotic mindset.
In 2020, Netflix offered Blackman a development deal reportedly worth $50 million. In 2022, the company announced that he would lead the adaptation of Horizon Zero Dawn and create the original series Orbital as part of the deal. Sources have told Rolling Stone that these projects are no longer proceeding with Blackman. A representative for Blackman mentioned that the showrunner “has a long, ongoing, and close working relationship with Netflix” and “continues to work on new projects.” They added that he “signed a new multi-year deal earlier this year.” Rolling Stones reached out to a Netflix representative to comment on these alleged developments, but they refrained from confirming anything.
While the Horizon Zero Dawn TV series may be in trouble, the video game franchise is set to continue for a very long time, according to Guerrilla Games studio director Jan-Bart van Beek. During a recent interview, he revealed that Guerrilla Games currently has around 16 plans “clicking on” for the series, which includes future installments at some point in the future. He also mentioned that the studio is going to be working on a multiplayer co-op game. He termed the project as a massive shift for the development team that is almost on the same level as working on the first entry, Horizon Zero Dawn.
