Disney’s Live-Action “Gargoyles” Series Has Once Again Turned to Stone

Some curses are apparently harder to break than others.

For decades, fans of Disney’s “Gargoyles” have watched as rumors, ideas and potential revivals surrounding the beloved animated series have repeatedly surfaced.

For a while, it seemed like one of those attempts might finally awaken.

Unfortunately, this particular gargoyle has turned back to stone.

Disney+ is no longer moving forward with its planned live-action “Gargoyles” series, bringing an end to the latest attempt to revive the cult-classic Disney property.

The project had originally been announced in 2023, with “It” writer Gary Dauberman attached alongside James Wan’s Atomic Monster.

Rumors surrounding the project’s fate began circulating after original “Gargoyles” co-creator Greg Weisman was asked about the live-action adaptation during an interview with ComicsOnline.

His answer was rather definitive.

The project was dead.

While Weisman was not directly involved with the planned adaptation, a source close to the project later confirmed to Variety that the Disney+ series was indeed no longer moving forward.

And for longtime “Gargoyles” fans, there is something unfortunately familiar about all of this.

The original animated series first arrived in 1994 and stood apart from much of Disney’s television animation of the era.

It was darker.

More serialized.

More willing to dig into mythology, Shakespeare, betrayal, morality and surprisingly complicated characters.

At the center of everything was Goliath and his clan of gargoyles, warriors who were turned to stone during the day and awakened at night.

After being betrayed and cursed in 10th-century Scotland, the surviving gargoyles remained trapped in their stone sleep for a thousand years before eventually awakening in modern-day New York City.

There, alongside police detective Elisa Maza, they made the city their new home and vowed to protect it.

The series also gave Disney one of its most memorable villains in billionaire David Xanatos, while bringing together a voice cast that included Keith David, Salli Richardson, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Ed Asner, Thom Adcox-Hernandez, Jeff Bennett and Bill Fagerbakke.

“Gargoyles” ultimately ran for three seasons during the 1990s, with its final season becoming “Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles.”

Yet the end of the animated series never really became the end of “Gargoyles.”

The show developed an incredibly devoted following, and conversations about bringing Goliath and his clan back have continued for years.

Movies.

Reboots.

Revival rumors.

And eventually, the Disney+ live-action project.

The planned series would have centered around Goliath as the last remaining member of a heroic race of gargoyle warriors who once lived alongside humanity.

After being freed from the curse that had trapped him in stone, Goliath would have worked to uncover the mystery surrounding his past while protecting modern-day New York alongside Elisa.

Dauberman was set to write and executive produce the project, with Wan also executive producing and Disney Branded Television attached as the studio.

On paper, it seemed like “Gargoyles” was finally getting another shot.

Instead, it joins the rather long history of attempts to bring the franchise back that never quite made it beyond development.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Goliath will remain asleep forever.

If anything, the fact that “Gargoyles” continues resurfacing in conversations about revivals more than 30 years after its original debut says plenty about the legacy the animated series left behind.

Disney has created countless animated shows.

Very few have inspired fans to spend three decades asking when they are coming back.

For now, though, the latest attempt to awaken “Gargoyles” has ended exactly where Goliath spends every sunrise.

In stone.