Veronica Mars - Cancellation and Possible Film

Cancellation and Possible Film

In January 2007, Dawn Ostroff announced that while she was pleased with the gradual ratings improvement of Veronica Mars, the series would be put on hiatus after the February sweeps to air a new reality series, Pussycat Dolls Present. When the hiatus ended, the series returned for the last five episodes of the season with non-serialized plotlines. At the 2007 CW Upfront, Ostroff announced that Veronica Mars was not part of the new primetime lineup and was "not coming back". Thomas created a trailer that took place four years after the third season finale, with the working title "Veronica in the FBI", and released it on the third season DVD. When asked if the FBI concept could happen, Ostroff said that the series was probably completely gone "in any form". Ostroff also said that Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas might collaborate on another project for the CW network. In June 2007, TV Guide writer Michael Ausiello confirmed that the cancellation of Veronica Mars was official.

Thomas stated that he was interested in writing a feature film based on the series, in the interest of providing closure to the story lines and character arcs. In September 2008, Michael Ausiello, writing for Entertainment Weekly, reported that Thomas had met with Bell to discuss the plot, which would likely involve Veronica solving crime in college rather than as an FBI agent. Thomas felt that the "FBI scenario was more of a 'What if...?'", aimed at getting a fourth season, and that he "would want to bring back our key players, and it would be tough to believe that the FBI stationed Veronica in Neptune." Ausiello later reported that Enrico Colantoni would be involved in the project. Colantoni said that he was fully aware of the talks taking place, adding, "cult shows have translated well into the film arena. Nothing's official, but they're talking about it." In addition to the feature-film possibility, Thomas has had a meeting with DC Comics to talk about a Veronica Mars comic book series.

In September 2008, Thomas told Entertainment Weekly that "I thought I had the idea broken, but I've hit a wall in the final act that I haven't quite figured out". Thomas explained that he was very busy writing for Cupid and Party Down, both of which he created. In January 2009, TV Guide reported that the film was Thomas' first priority after Cupid. Thomas noted that as well as writing the script, someone would need to pay for the film, but indicated that producer Joel Silver was ready to green-light the film. In June 2009, Bell said "I don't think it will ever happen, and here's why: Rob Thomas and I had a powwow, and we were both 100 percent on board. We took our proposal to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver told us that there is no enthusiasm to make a Veronica Mars movie, and that is unfortunately a roadblock we cannot compete with." At the 2010 TCA Winter Press Tour, Rob Thomas stated that the movie won't be happening, "I would write it if anyone would finance it. If anyone's interested in making that movie I am available, Kristen's available. I would love to do it. I think the closest we came was Joel pushing it at Warner Bros. and they didn't bite. It has sort of gone away." In April 2010, Thomas insisted, "it's not dead. I continue to want to do it We're still looking into it." In June 2010, Silver was less optimistic about the film happening; "we analyzed all these areas about it. I talked to the home video people, because a movie like that would be driven by video. The didn't do that well... So they didn't feel there was a need or an audience."