Why The OA movie never happened

❘ Published: 2024-01-12T16:14:44

Netflix

Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij recently revealed Netflix wanted to make an OA movie. Here’s why the project never happened.

The OA premiered on Netflix in 2016. Co-created by Marling and Batmanglij, it stars the former as Prairie Johnson/The OA, a blind woman who reappears after a seven-year absence, now able to see.

While The OA’s mind-bending storytelling proved divisive, the show quickly fostered a devoted fanbase. Despite this support, Netflix canceled the show after two seasons in 2019 – well short of Marling and Batmanglij’s original five-season roadmap.

Thanks to a recent interview with Marling and Batmanglij, we now know that Netflix offered them the option of wrapping up The OA’s story as a film. So, why didn’t this movie materialize?

Why The OA movie never happened

The OA movie didn’t happen because Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij turned down Netflix’s offer to make it. The pair would only conclude the show’s story via a third and final season.

Batmanglij discussed the OA movie that never was in a November 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“The OA ending was unexpected to me, but they did try to get us to wrap it up with a movie and we said no,” he said. “So I didn’t feel burnt because of that; I felt more puzzled. If you’re Netflix, why don’t you just finish it with more than just a wrap-up movie? Why don’t you finish it with a third season?”

“It would force us to bring the three [remaining and planned] seasons into one and close it up, and then you could outsource it to Max or Hulu or wherever,” Batmanglij continued. “You can do so much with it if it’s finished.

“This idea of all these unfinished homes littering their platform, I just don’t see the economics of it. It’s much better to have a finished thing and then license that thing and make money off that thing for the next 10-to-20 years.”

Will The OA Season 3 happen?

There are currently no plans for a revival of The OA – at Netflix or anywhere else. That said, in the same THR interview, Marling and Batmanglij indicated Season 3 could still happen.

Batmanglij expressed hope that he would one day discuss The OA’s third season with journalists, following its completion. Marling echoed these sentiments, noting that other TV shows have earned similar reprieves.

“[I]t’s true what Zal is saying,” she said. “Twin Peaks came back after a long time. We just need the conditions and the circumstances to be right. Dormant seeds in the desert do bloom, so who knows?”

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