In September 2024, Taika Waititi’s dwarf-less remake of Terry Gilliam’s much-beloved 1983 film, “Time Bandits,” was canceled by Apple TV after just a single season.
What disappointed many, even before the series had aired, and in a decision ostensibly made in order not to offend, was that Waititi’s “reimagining” didn’t have dwarfs accompanying protagonist Kevin on his adventures, but rather regularly sized individuals.
In a recent interview with La Repubblica, Gilliam says that was precisely the reason why the series got canned by the streamer, and he sees it as karma since Waititi and the producers hid the dwarf-less aspect of the show from him until the very end:
They kept it from me for months that there were no dwarfs in the series — something I consider structural to that story. When I found out, it was too late, and that’s why the series failed.
Gilliam goes on to call “absurd” the idea of having to change this crucial aspect of his movie just because platform executives believe it won’t work with a teenage audience.
They brought me in as a non-writing executive producer, and I thought I had a bit of control, but when I read the scripts I didn’t like them. Taika Waititi, the director whose ‘Jojo Rabbit’ I loved and to whom I thought I was handing the project, wasn’t really involved; his subsequent films were disappointing.
Subtle potshot aimed at Waititi.
Back in 2023, I reported that Gilliam had visited the New Zealand set of Waititi’s reimagining. The cast and crew soon realized just how irritated Gilliam was by what he was seeing. “He wasn’t happy. He kept groaning and making remarks,” one source had told me.
“Terry was supposed to be there for two weeks but he left after three days,” this same person adds. “His disdain for the entire project was quite obvious. You probably won’t be hearing any praise for this series from him anytime soon.”
Regardless, Gilliam is correct in his assessment: a dwarf-less “Time Bandits” failed because the dwarfs were central to the film’s charm, humor, and unique visual style; removing them would turn the story into a generic adventure, losing what made the original film distinctive and beloved.