DVDizzy Forum

On a recent episode of the Fatman Beyond podcast hosted by Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin, discussion began about the unique way “The Mandalorian” was shot for Disney+ (you can hear it beginning at 2:05:25 [There is strong language]). Smith then mentions something interesting:

"I saw that wall in real life, when we were working on the Disney, uh… when we were working on the potential Disney+ show Kingdom Keepers. They brought me in for, like, a tech day, and they were like, ‘this wall here can duplicate any background.’"

There hasn’t been any official word of a Kingdom Keepers show in development for the streaming platform, but it seems producers at Disney+ are circling the idea. In terms of using the technology “The Mandalorian” used for Kingdom Keepers, they could be testing out ways they can potentially shoot a series that takes place in the Disney Parks without having to actually be in a park the entire time.

That was a blast to write 2 years ago. It was planned as one of the first shows to launch on what would become @disneyplus. Then a new exec was put in charge of the app and he killed KK. Said we used too much @Disney IP in one project (every character in the park comes to life).

Clindor wrote:Finally this project is happening

Kevin Smith: That was a blast to write 2 years ago. It was planned as one of the first shows to launch on what would become Disney+. Then a new exec was put in charge of the app and he killed KK. Said we used too much Disney IP in one project (every character in the park comes to life).

Q: That new exec sounds like he has no idea what people would and wouldn't watch.

Kevin Smith: The Disney+ exec may have scrapped Kingdom Keepers, but he's also the guy who said “Let’s do Star Wars & Marvel Studios shows!” So as much as I would’ve liked to make my show, I’m much happier watching The Mandolorian and can’t wait for WandaVision. #FanFirstFilmmakerSecond

Kevin Lively: I was asked to review the treatment and let out an audible “Hell yeah!” at a certain point. It was marvelous.

Kevin Smith: Thanks, man! It was written with love by a kid who grew up watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” with his family every Sunday night. I renamed the main characters after the original team of Imagineers who worked w/ Walt. Felt like they overpaid me to write Disney fan fiction!

Kevin Smith wrote:In the beginning of the life of Disney+, the Disney Channel was put in charge of the creative. My agent called me one day and said 'The folks at Disney want to meet with you.' This was a couple of years ago. I came up with a storyline and wrote this outline for what it was; basically wrote the pitch down. In Ridley's books, they pick one of the villains and stick with that villain. When I was told this is what they're looking for, they were like 'Just go Disney-nuts, man.' And so, I took that to be like this is the Avengers of Disney so I can use every IP that the parks got. There's some obvious like you know...you wouldn't want to touch Star Wars and stuff like that, but the classic park. It was going to be set in Disneyland. So, all that stuff was fair game. Walt was a character. Mickey Mouse, of course, was a character. He didn't pop-up until later, but he was always around. The main villain was Captain Hook, who I wanted Russell Brand for.

So, I went in and pitched that. They went for my pitch. It was crazy. They were like 'We like it, let's do it.' They made a deal and I started writing the show for Disney+. I wrote the pilot script and there was a full Bible for the entire arc of the first season which would have basically told the story of the first book. I met with a producer up in Vancouver while I was working on an episode of Supergirl and went through budgets and potential places to shoot. It just kept inching more towards reality. They were like 'This is going to be one of our first shows. We've already greenlit High School Musical: The Series and this is next. That'll start it and then this is going to happen, Kingdom Keepers.'

I was over in England visiting J.J. when he was shooting Rise of Skywalker staying in Slough and I got an email from my agent going like 'Kingdom Keepers has been killed.' And I was like 'What? What happened? Are you kidding?' He went like 'there's a new exec that was brought in on the app and he read it...' I was like 'Oh my God! Did the new guy not like the script?' It wasn't that. He said 'There's too much IP in the show. You used every damn Disney character in one. He didn't think this was a good idea.' So, it got killed.

blackcauldron85 wrote:That exec wouldn't have greenlit OUaT either then, huh? (I only saw a little of OUaT...I have the same issues with that show that I do with the live action remakes...it's just hard for me to watch them).

So, um, Walt would be a character?! Would he be a voice, a live actor, CGI? And all the Disney characters, like Mickey; would they be CG? I've never read these books but I want more info on the show!

Disney Duster wrote:We had Once Upon a Time and Descendants using so many Disney IPs. I don't see why they couldn't just stagger the IPs throughout the seasons since it sounded like too much IPs in one season was what got it canceled.