Donald Glover skewers Deadpool animated series cancellation in spoof script

Glover-Deadpool
Photo: John Shearer/Getty Images; Disney XD via Getty Images

After his planned Deadpool animated series was canceled, Donald Glover is taking a page from the Merc with a Mouth.

The actor-rapper-writer-producer-director posted a spoof script on Twitter in which the Marvel anti-hero breaks the fourth wall to speculate about the reasons behind the show’s cancellation.

After Marvel Television parted ways with Glover, his brother Stephen Glover, and FX on a planned Deadpool animated series due to creative differences, Glover responded to speculation about his departure, writing in a tweet he later deleted: “For the record: I wasn’t too busy to work on Deadpool.”

In the 12-page script Glover posted, Deadpool wakes up in a Jeep in Kenya, and Ben Carson, Bitcoin, and Ecko jokes ensue as he takes a mission involving Sudan, the last male northern white rhino.

“You know, I’m not mad about this whole ‘cancelled’ thing,” Deadpool tells Sudan in the script. “I actually think it’s a good time to have a violent, gun loving white man ranting on TV? Other than the PRESIDENT!” The Merc ponders whether “they just wanna sell toys” or if they “cancelled the show… ’cause of racism?!”

He continues, “Yeah, but all the writers were black. And the references were pretty black too. I heard they went over the lunch budget ordering Jamaican food at least once a week.”

The character goes on to say, “It just feels like everyone wants something different, but no one want [sic] to do anything different to get it. Doesn’t Marvel have enough feel-good minority shows everyone supports but doesn’t watch? I mean, I think our show woulda been funny. I just wanted a place to be honest. And I guess that place is Freeform.”

Glover’s Deadpool also includes a reference to the Beyoncé biting scandal. (“Sanaa Lathan bit Beyonce’s face! Wait. Oh thank God. It was Jennifer Lawrence. I already hate her. It’s fine.”)

FXX developed Deadpool: The Animated Series — as it’s called in Glover’s script — as a 10-episode season with an initial goal to launch this year. It’s unclear whether Marvel will opt to keep this project alive. Regardless, Glover isn’t struggling for work. His show Atlanta won multiple Emmys and Golden Globes, while he’ll be seen on the big screen as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story. He’ll then be heard on the big screen as Simba in Jon Favreau’s The Lion King.

Reps for Glover and FX declined to comment. Marvel also had no comment.

Read Glover’s script below.

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