More than two years ago, Javier Bardem signed on to star in a mini-series for Amazon that would have explored the relationship between legendary conquistador Hernán Cortés and the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, but Deadline now reports that the series has become another casualty of COVID-19 as production will not resume.
Cortés y Moctezuma was slated to be an epic four-hour mini-series from Amazon Studios and Amblin and was described as the largest Spanish-language production of all time. Steven Zaillian wrote the series, with Steven Spielberg, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Diego Luna serving as executive producers. Along with Bardem, the show starred Tenoch Huerta and Yoshira Escarrega. The series had been shooting for two weeks before it was forced to shut down due to COVID-19 earlier this year, but Amazon and Amblin ran the numbers and discovered that it would be too expensive to start up again and have decided to scrap the entire production. "Due to the production constraints created by the COVID-19 global pandemic, Amazon Studios and Amblin Partners are unable to move forward with production on our Cortés y Moctezuma series," the two companies said in a statement. "In the current climate, there is unfortunately no way to remount the production in the near future to achieve the scale and scope that was intended and that the series deserves. We have nothing but admiration and respect for Javier, Tenoch, Yoshira, Gael, Diego, Steve Zaillian, and the entire cast and crew of the series and hope we can work together again in the future."
With its huge elaborate pyramid sets, intricate props, and hundreds of extras, Cortés y Moctezuma would likely have been a massive show, so it's a shame that we won't get to see it. The series has long been a passion project for Steven Spielberg's Amblin, with it emerging several years ago as a potential directing vehicle for Spielberg, and although the mini-series may be scrapped, it's possible that the company may return to the idea at some point in the future.
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