Fans of Leigh Whannell’s sci-fi flick Upgrading It may be recalled that there was a point where it seemed to have a sequel. It was announced, then reworked into a TV series, and then…nope, not a peep until last year when Whannell said the film would remain a one-and-done. What’s the deal there?

According to Tim Walsh, the film’s producer who was tapped to write and appear in the series, the show faced many obstacles before being canned. As he just said Bloody Disgustinghe and Whannell sold the Peacock project in 2019. Then there was a “time of turmoil” in the world, as his writers’ room began “on the day the world shut down” due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Another obstacle in the way is Upgrading plot of the show: it’s about four criminals who have recently been implanted with a STEM chip in the hope of changing them, similar to A Clockwork Orange. Walsh thought it was risky to film at a time when movies about cops and criminals were “unpopular,” likely referring to protests against police brutality in recent years and discussions of the role of television in cleaning them up. But the biggest killer of the project is more than his salary grade-as he told it, the writers were ready and the scripts were assembled when a Peacock higher was fired. Their replacement later “came in, thought they knew everything, and dropped the project.”

That’s where Walsh’s involvement with the show ended, and he’s candid in saying that it “still hurts” that it didn’t make it, although he’s sure there will be attempts to revive it without him. Despite what happened, he still wanted to be with Whannell again, so that someday he would have a chance to relive the Upgrading show or create elements from it to something else.

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