Once upon a time, Joss Whedon was a nerd king, the man behind Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Marvel's The Avengers and more, known for his witty wordplay and dramatic, emotional scripts. More recently, he's been in personal hot water over accusations of bad behaviour and inauthenticity, while there are ongoing allegations from his time overseeing the Justice League re-shoots. The Nevers, the new show he was making for US cable channel HBO, represented a chance to garner some better professional press, but now he has left the series.
Whedon was the creative force behind the show, cooking up the concept, and acting as show-runner, director and executive producer for what was being described as "an epic science fiction drama about a gang of Victorian women who find themselves with unusual abilities, relentless enemies, and a mission that might change the world."
HBO put out a neutral statement about Whedon's departure: "We have parted ways with Joss Whedon. We remain excited about the future of The Nevers and look forward to its premiere." All being well from now on, that should be next summer.
Whedon himself put out his own comment on the matter, provided to Cinemablend: “This year of unprecedented challenges has impacted my life and perspective in ways I could never have imagined, and while developing and producing The Nevers has been a joyful experience, I realize that the level of commitment required moving forward, combined with the physical challenges of making such a huge show during a global pandemic, is more than I can handle without the work beginning to suffer. I am genuinely exhausted and am stepping back to martial my energy towards my own life, which is also at the brink of exciting change," Whedon says. "I am deeply proud of the work we have done; I’m grateful to all my extraordinary cast and collaborators, and to HBO for the opportunity to shape yet another strange world. The Nevers is a true labor of love, but after two plus years of labor, love is about all I have to offer. It will never fade."
Filming on the series' first season, which stars, among others, Laura Donnelly, Olivia Williams and Nick Frost, looks to largely have been completed before Whedon left.