During the Edinburgh TV Festival, Disney+ announced three new shows that they’re developing for the streaming service including one with deep ties to a legacy title from the Disney Vault. Among these is Nautilus, a live-action drama based on Jules Verne’s novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and focusing on the character Captain Nemo and his submarine. Moonriver TV’s Xavier Marchand and Seven Stories’ Anand Tucker developed and will produce the series which has James Dormer (Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands) attached to write and executive produce. According to Deadline production will begin in early 2022.
The official description for Nautilus reads: “Nemo is an Indian Prince robbed of his birth right and family, a prisoner of the East India Company and a man bent on revenge against the forces which have taken everything from him. But once he sets sail with his ragtag crew on board the awe-inspiring Nautilus, he not only battles with his enemy, he also discovers a magical underwater world.”
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“Jules Verne’s story is a beloved classic all around the world,” Johanna Devereaux, director of scripted original content for EMEA at Disney+ said in a statement. “It’s a huge privilege to bring the Nautilus and her crew to life again in such a bold, exciting way, with a diverse team of creative talent and on-screen characters. The series will be breathtaking, action-packed and a huge amount of fun.”
Disney+ also confirmed casting for two other shows with Nathan Stewart-Jarrett set to star in Culprits, described as “a darkly comic heist series” which has Stephen Garrett (The Undoing) and filmmaker J Blakeson (I Care A Lot) executive producing; and Alita: Battle Angel star Rosa Salazar starring in the romantic comedy series Wedding Season.
Culprits is described as following “what happens after a heist, when the crew have gone their separate ways, but are being targeted by a killer one-by-one.” Wedding Season will begin shooting later this month and will feature Salazar as Katie “a picture-perfect bride who we meet on her wedding day surrounded by the dead bodies of her new husband and every member of his family. The police think her lover Stefan did it. Stefan thinks Katie did it. Katie thinks her ex-husband did it. And no one knows for sure what the truth is.”
What’s unclear about these shows is that they’re described as “UK Star Originals,” Star being (for lack of a better term) the UK equivalent of Hulu and a branch of Disney+ across the pond that features more adult-targeted programming (think shows like FX’s American Horror Stories and even AMC’s The Walking Dead), and thus we don’t know yet if they’ll be available on Disney+ in the United States. Nautilus having direct ties to a classic Disney movie, and being an expensive effects-heavy show, will more than likely arrive on Disney+ but the other shows may stream on Hulu in the US. Check back here for more info as we learn it.
