ABC Family is nixing a planned pilot titled Alice in Arabia after drawing complaints from Muslim advocacy groups that feared the show would reinforce negative Arab and Muslim stereotypes, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The cable network drew attention earlier this week when it announced it was ordering the pilot, in part because the show was written by Brook Eikmeier, a former U.S. army linguist specializing in Arabic.
ABC Family said the show would be a drama about a girl who is kidnapped by members of her extended family in Saudi Arabia. But the proposal drew widespread criticism for appearing to take a simplistic view of Muslims and the Arab world.
“The current conversation surrounding our pilot was not what we had envisioned and is certainly not conducive to the creative process, so we’ve decided not to move forward with this project,” an ABC Family spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.
[THR]
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- Stop Looking for Your Forever Home
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Noah Rayman at noah.rayman@time.com