Dark Horse Comics Drops Neil Gaiman, ‘Anansi Boys’ Canceled
Dark Horse Comics dropped Neil Gaiman, author of the comics The Sandman, and the novel Good Omens, from which the Netflix and Amazon Prime Video shows were based, respectively. This is following the accusations of nine women, fans, coworkers, and an employee whom Gaiman allegedly abused.
Dark Horse Comics Cancels Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys
Dark Horse Comics announced via X that they are canceling Anansi Boys. The post reads, “Dark Horse takes seriously the allegations against Neil Gaiman and we are no longer publishing his works. Confirming that the ‘Anansi Boys’ comic series and collected volume have been cancelled.”
Marc Bernardin, the writer of the Anansi Boys comic series posted on his Instagram about issue no. 7 being the series’ last issue and how his “heart breaks for the survivors and any pain seeing these books on the shelves might have caused.”
Gaiman denied the allegations and wrote a lengthy statement about them on his website. However, several of his ongoing projects, aside from the cancellation of Anansi Boys comics, have been affected. Good Omens will conclude with a 90-minute episode instead of a full third season. The Sandman Season 2 is still scheduled for release on Netflix in 2025. However, promotions for the show are careful not to be associated with Gaiman, with no mention of the author’s name.
Disney has also halted production of its adaptation of The Graveyard Book, while Dead Boy Detectives, a spinoff of The Sandman, was canceled due to weak streaming numbers. Since the show was canceled in August 2024 and the allegations against Gaiman first went public in July 2024, Netflix may have also taken the issue into consideration.
Anansi Boys TV Adaptation
In 2021, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon Prime Video ordered a six-episode limited series of Anansi Boys, with shooting expected to begin that year. The series follows Charlie Nancy, who discovers that his true father is Anansi, the trickster god of stories, and that he has a brother named Spider. Anansi first appeared in another of Gaiman’s stories, adapted into the TV series American Gods, which aired for three seasons on Starz before being canceled.
Before the allegations against Gaiman surfaced, production on Anansi Boys had been problematic. Deadline reported in 2023 that Douglas Mackinnon left the show as co-showrunner while it was still in early post-production in November 2023, after completing filming in May 2023.
Of all Gaiman’s shows, Anansi Boys is the only one with a question mark status, though according to Variety, it is expected to be released this year. There is no official news or updates yet when or if the show will ever stream.
