Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters Sequel Cancelled - TV Show In Development

If you were looking forward to more big screen adventures with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the fairy tale siblings grown up as badass evil-bashing bounty hunters, we have both some good news and some bad news for you.

Deadline reports that the in-development sequel to the 2013 comedy horror ‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’ has had the plug pulled by studio Paramount - who plan instead to take the property to the small screen for a spin-off TV series.

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In some ways this isn’t too surprising, as things had long seemed shakey around ‘Hansel & Gretel 2.’ The first film had only been a moderate success, under-performing in the US but doing well internationally, so questions were asked over how in-demand the sequel really was.

There were rumours of cold feet from the studio, and the original film’s writer-director Tommy Wirkola withdrew from the project not long after handing in the screenplay.

However, things appeared to be on the up this past summer when Bruno Aveillan was announced as Wirkola’s replacement in the director’s chair.

But now it seems the top brass at Paramount have had a change of heart, and according to Deadline “the filmmakers all were taken by surprise“ by the decision.

It seems the plan instead is to reboot the ‘Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters’ format for television, in partnership between Paramount TV and MGM with Gary Sanchez producing.

No other names have yet been mentioned, so it’s unclear whether any players from the original movie will be involved, and/or whether the series will in any way use material from the unused sequel script.

Still, it’s not hard to see the format being a good fit for a TV show, and there’s certainly scope for comedy horror films which met a comparatively lukewarm response with film audiences finding new life on the small screen; ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ anyone?

Picture Credit: Paramount