Amazon Passes on Glenn Close Zombie Comedy Sea Oak

It appears that Sea Oak will, unlike its zombified protagonist, stay dead. While Amazon has been increasing its impressive lineup of original television content, highlighted by shows such as The Man in the High Castle, Bosch, Goliath, Hand of God, Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, and The Tick, recently-premiering Glenn Close-starring pilot Sea Oak will not be part of that menu.

Sea Oak will stand as one of three Amazon casualties, along with The Climb and Love You More, reports Deadline. The nixing of these would-be shows – the entire lineup of its 2017 pilot season – is attributed to telluric shifts in Amazon’s entertainment leadership, with its search for a new boss after the destructive tentacles of the Harvey Weinstein scandal resulted in the exits of Amazon Studios boss Roy Price and head of comedy and drama development Joe Lewis – both of whom greenlit the now-passed projects. Indeed, Amazon’s recent $250 million deal to develop a TV series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth mythology of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is a clear sign of a change in its small screen streaming strategy.

The Sea Oak pilot debuted on Amazon Prime on November 10, showcasing six-time Oscar-nominated, three-time Emmy-winning actress Glenn Close as a working-class Rust Belt woman, named Bernie, whose financial misfortunes are compounded by her sudden death during a home invasion incident. However, using blue-collar rage, Bernie wills herself back to life. Subsequently existing as a zombie, Bernie’s new morbid modus operandi is rage-filled revenge, determined to achieve the good life that eluded her when she still had a pulse.

The Amazon pilot role seemed apropos to Glenn Close’s skill set, which coming off an early-1980s breakout, is probably best remembered for passionate, vengeance-seeking roles, notably in 1985’s steamy Jagged Edge, disturbing the world as the pet-rabbit-boiling hookup from hell in 1987’s Fatal Attraction and as Disney villainess Cruella De Vil in 1997’s live-action 101 Dalmatians and its 2000 sequel. After her memorable 2000s television runs on The Shield and Damages, she fielded a memorable film role in 2014 as Nova Prime in Guardians of the Galaxy. While Sea Oak appears to be off the table, Close will be seen next in the December 22-premiering ensemble comedy film, Father Figures, joining the likes of Owen Wilson, Ed Helms, Ving Rhames and J.K. Simmons.

Fellow comedy casualty The Climb is created by its star Diarra Kilpatrick. Love You More is, likewise, co-developed by its star, Bridget Everett, directed and co-developed by comedian Bobcat Goldthwait.