New Details About Scrapped ‘Upgrade’ TV Spin-Off Emerge (And Make Us Furious)

Filmmaker Leigh Whannell is responsible for writing horror classics like Saw and Insidious, so he’s no stranger to seeing works he created get expanded and extended in exciting ways. The aforementioned franchises are some of the most beloved in contemporary horror, as Saw has unnerved audiences for more than 20 years and Insidious feels as alive as ever more than 15 years later. Still, not all of the adventures he’s offered us have been further explored, even if a number of reports have emerged about these possibilities. For example, even though a TV series based on his 2018 movie Upgrade had previously been announced, producer Tim Walsh, who was set to serve as showrunner on the project, shed insight on what the story would have explored and now we’re even more upset that it will never happen.

Back in 2025, Whannell confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the series was no longer happening, but in a new conversation with Bloody Disgusting, Walsh explained what the story would have been about. Walsh detailed:

“The whole series was about criminals and the STEM chip being put into them to reform them. It was like A Clockwork Orange, you know, but with STEM being put in.”

He added, “It was a series about four anti-heroes – four criminals – at a time when it was not popular to tell stories about criminals, cops, and all of that stuff … So, my version died.”

A World With Limitless Potential

The original Upgrade starred Logan Marshall-Green as a man who suffered an accident that left him paralyzed, only to volunteer for an experimental treatment that not only revived his mobility, but gave him superior strength and speed. As these things pan out, this tech was exploited and taken advantage of, sending this “upgraded” individual on a path of revenge. In a sense, the movie felt like a new take on something akin to RoboCop, yet without quite as expansive of a dystopia and instead delivering a reality closer to our own.

The spin-off series was announced in 2019 and it sounds like timing was wrong for the project in various ways. Not only were audiences less interested in stories focusing on the dynamic of corruption, cops, and criminals, but it was also impacted by the pandemic. Walsh explained:

“Leigh and I sold that to Peacock back in 2019 … I think I started my writer’s room for Upgrade on the day the world shut down from the pandemic

“We had the writer’s room. We wrote the scripts. But, as often happens in this business, somebody up top at Peacock got fired, and a new person came in, thought they knew everything, and dropped that project. It never got picked up later because it was a tumultuous time in the world.”

Whannell Is Happy With Cult-Classic Status

Logan Marshall-Green surrounded by red light in the 2018 movie Upgrade

Blumhouse Productions

Fans might be disappointed that Upgrade won’t be expanding anytime soon, especially given that the story concluded with unanswered questions, but Whannell isn’t quite as concerned about that. In fact, he previously expressed how he appreciates that some things are left up in the air, as this only furthers the interest among the fandom.

Speaking to how the movie eerily predicted the future in unexpected ways, Whannell shared in 2025:

“I do think it’s so incredible how the science fiction that I wrote in that movie has become ubiquitous. I was walking along the other day with my brother who was visiting from Australia, and this autonomous car, this Waymo, drove past us. And it struck me that I grew up watching movies where that was considered an absolutely outrageous sci-fi concept.

“Now, it’s something that people don’t even bat an eyelid at when one drives past. No one reacted in a big way. So it’s amazing how quickly we, as human beings, adapt to this stuff that was once science fiction, and it’s been funny to watch the world catch up to Upgrade. But as far as making a sequel, that’s another one where I’m like, ‘I think we’re good there. We’re good.’ I would love to let that film keep bubbling away as this cult movie, and if people keep thinking that it was somehow prophetic, then that would be great.”