WGN recently passed on Warner Bros.’s live-action Scalped television series. The pilot was filmed this passed spring with Alex Meraz as Dashiell “Dash” Bad Horse, Lily Gladstone as Carol Red Crow, and Gil Birmingham as Chief Lincoln Red Crow. Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi directed the pilot.
This is what the writer had to say:
I got to visit the set while they were filming the pilot, and got to hang out with everyone. I was very impressed with the cast. It had an incredible cast, and I was excited to see them all dig into the characters. When I was told WGN passed, I was mostly disappointed for them.
The decision may have to do with the fact that WGN’s parent company is being acquired by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Chris Ripley, the Sinclair CEO, has said that their plans for WGN are “shifting its strategy away from high-cost originals into more cost-effective originals and reruns.”
The network even cancelled two of its primary live-action dramas, Outsiders and Underground earlier this year. Scalped is a crime story set on a Native American reservation and it ran for 60 issues at DC/Vertigo by Aaron and R.M. Guera. Aaron was asked whether or not DC was looking around for other networks and he said he couldn’t speak on that, but referred back to DC.
Neither WGN or DC Entertainment could be reached for comment.
