Why Apple TV+ Canceled Time Bandits
After directing the eternally quotable "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Terry Gilliam tried and failed to bring his dystopian satire "Brazil" to the silver screen. Burned by the experience of explaining the over-the-top world of "Brazil," Gilliam set his sights on creating a family-friendly film that would be an easier pitch, and the result was his 1981 classic "Time Bandits."
Telling the story of a young boy whisked away on an adventure with a band of thieves traveling through space and time on a quest for stolen treasure, "Time Bandits" remains one of Gilliam's best films because of its childish exuberance and whimsical imagination. It established Gilliam as one of cinema's most outlandish visionaries, and its reputation has only grown over the years.
In our modern era of reboots and reimaginings, it wasn't surprising to hear that Apple TV+ was bringing "Time Bandits" back from the past, this time with Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement providing their own surrealist vision to the project. But not long after the series' first season aired its last episode, it was canceled, and in a new interview, Taika Waititi told the story of why.
Waititi bluntly says the series was 'too expensive' for another season
Ahead of the premiere of "Interior Chinatown," another surreal genre-bending TV show Waititi produced, he sat down for a career retrospective with Entertainment Weekly. As Waititi lifts up the poster for "Time Bandits," he squeals with delight, throwing praise at star Lisa Kudrow's work on the series in its "one glorious season." He then goes on to voice the role of an anonymous fan asking why the show was canceled:
"'Why didn't it have another season, Taika, tell us, tell us!' Alright, I'll tell you. Too expensive."
In an effort to replicate the handcrafted feel of the original film, the "Time Bandits" series used everything from miniatures, animatronics, and oil paintings as its band of plucky plunderers. Doing these intensive practical effects doesn't come cheap, and it looks like the hefty price tag was too much for Apple TV to cover.
From the way he describes it, it doesn't sound like Waititi regrets making the series, saying that his favorite part was getting to shoot the series in New Zealand, "being at home, with my countrymen."
The series is still available to watch on Apple TV+, and fans of Lisa Kudrow don't have to wait long to see her on TV again, with her underrated HBO meta-comedy "The Comeback" set to return with a third season in 2026.