Theme Park Scope

One of Disney’s most beloved ’90s animated series was supposed to get another shot at the spotlight, but those plans have officially turned to stone.

Disney+ is no longer moving forward with its planned live-action reboot of Gargoyles, ending a project that had been quietly in development for nearly three years.

The news initially came directly from Gargoyles co-creator Greg Weisman, who revealed that the live-action project was dead.

Sources close to the project have since confirmed to both Variety and Deadline that the Disney+ series is no longer moving forward. And for longtime Gargoyles fans who have spent years waiting for Disney to do something major with the franchise, this one is going to sting.

Plans for the live-action Gargoyles series first surfaced in 2023, when Disney+ began developing a new version of the cult-favorite animated show.

The project had some serious horror credentials behind it. Gary Dauberman, whose credits include It, Annabelle Comes Home, and The Nun, was attached to write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner. James Wan was also attached as an executive producer through Atomic Monster, alongside Michael Clear. Disney Branded Television was attached as the studio.

The planned series would have focused primarily on Goliath, leader of the gargoyles, and Elisa Maza, the New York City police detective who becomes one of the clan’s closest human allies.

Goliath would have been depicted as the last of an ancient heroic race of gargoyle warriors, attempting to uncover the mysteries of his past while protecting modern-day New York alongside Elisa. Unfortunately, we aren’t going to see that story play out — at least not through this particular project.

During a recent interview, Weisman was asked about the status of the live-action adaptation and gave an unusually straightforward answer: “That’s dead.” He went on to say that he didn’t know what might happen on the animation side of the franchise, but there were currently no plans for live action.

Weisman wasn’t directly involved with the Disney+ adaptation, but subsequent reporting from Variety and Deadline independently confirmed through sources close to the project that the series is indeed no longer moving forward.

Although the project had been in development since 2023, Disney never reached the point of announcing a cast or release date. This wasn’t a completed Disney+ series suddenly being pulled from the schedule, nor was it a show that had already entered production and been canceled after filming.

There was a creative team and a general premise attached, but Disney never publicly announced actors for Goliath, Elisa Maza, David Xanatos, or the other characters fans would expect to see. There was also never an official premiere window. In other words, the project appears to have ended before it progressed into the much more expensive stages of production.

That doesn’t make the news any less disappointing for Gargoyles fans, but it does help explain why Disney can walk away from something that was first reported almost three years ago without viewers ever having seen a trailer, casting announcement, or even official concept art.

If you didn’t grow up watching Disney television in the 1990s, you might be wondering why the cancellation of a reboot that never even entered production is getting so much attention. Gargoyles wasn’t quite like most Disney cartoons of its era. The original animated series debuted in 1994 and followed a clan of gargoyles who had lived in medieval Scotland. These creatures turned to stone during the day and came alive at night.

After betrayal and a magical curse left them trapped in stone for approximately 1,000 years, the gargoyles were eventually awakened in modern-day Manhattan. They made New York City their new home and became its nighttime protectors. But Gargoyles wasn’t simply a superhero cartoon with Disney characters.

The show became known for its darker atmosphere, serialized storytelling, mythology, Shakespearean influences, complicated villains, and storylines that frequently carried consequences from one episode into another.

The original series ultimately ran for three seasons from 1994 through 1997, producing 78 episodes, with the final season retitled Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles.

Its memorable voice cast included Keith David as Goliath, along with Salli Richardson, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Ed Asner, Jeff Bennett, Thom Adcox-Hernandez, Bill Fagerbakke, and others.

For a generation of Disney fans, it became one of the company’s defining animated action series. And unlike many children’s shows from the same era, Gargoyles has maintained an especially devoted fanbase decades later.

The involvement of Gary Dauberman and James Wan was one of the reasons the live-action reboot seemed particularly intriguing. This wasn’t a creative team primarily associated with traditional Disney family entertainment. Dauberman’s work includes some of modern horror’s most recognizable franchises, while Wan has been heavily associated with The Conjuring universe, Saw, Insidious, and other genre projects.

That combination suggested Disney might actually embrace the darker side of Gargoyles rather than smoothing down everything that made the original series unusual. Dauberman even discussed his hopes for the project in 2025, describing an interest in preserving the original show’s darker, serialized and operatic qualities.

Now we’ll never know exactly what that version would have looked like, and that’s arguably the most frustrating part. There was plenty of room for a modern Gargoyles adaptation to lean into gothic New York City, mythology, fantasy, action, and horror without needing to become an R-rated departure from Disney’s brand. Instead, the project has joined the long list of announced or reported Hollywood projects that simply never escaped development.

The original animated series also remains part of Disney’s streaming library, giving new audiences an opportunity to discover Goliath and his clan decades after the show’s television debut. What happens beyond that remains uncertain.

Disney continues to develop new programming around some of its biggest franchises, but not every project announced or placed into development ultimately makes it to production. That’s normal in Hollywood. Projects can disappear for creative, financial, strategic, scheduling, or countless other reasons.

Neither Disney nor the reporting surrounding Gargoyles has provided a specific reason this project stopped moving forward.

So we wouldn’t attribute its demise to Disney+ budgets, strategy changes, creative disagreements, or anything else unless someone directly involved eventually provides that explanation. What we can say is that after nearly three years in development, Disney apparently decided not to move forward with this version.

And for Gargoyles fans, the waiting begins again. There’s still an entire world of characters and mythology sitting inside Disney’s library. There’s still an audience that remembers Goliath, Elisa, Brooklyn, Lexington, Broadway, Hudson, Bronx, and Xanatos. And there’s still plenty of potential for Disney to revisit them someday.

It just won’t be through the Gary Dauberman and James Wan live-action Disney+ series we’ve been hearing about since 2023.

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