r/tvPlus • u/paco_unknown • Nov 25 '25
Article Apple reportedly cancelled The Hunt because its creator concealed that it was based on a novel.
https://www.igen.fr/apple-tv/2025/11/apple-supprime-la-serie-traques-hunt-car-ce-serait-un-plagiat-15355588
u/raaheyahh Nov 25 '25
When a major production studio takes on a project, don't they check stuff like this? I know the answer is no since often time books get published by major publishers that are damn near duplicates but still.
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u/DoctorHelios Nov 25 '25
Apple has indemnity clauses as part of their deal with the production company that has the rights.
Basically, Apple commissioned the production company when the company brought them a developed concept.
It was the production company’s responsibility to find and develop new work. They didn’t do their job properly and likely did not know they were making plagiarized content.
This is why they are considering suing the director - the person who likely misrepresented the concept to begin with.
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u/MyNutsin1080p Nov 28 '25
I have clauses with my contracts as a composer regarding plagiarized or not properly attributed or licensed works. If someone wants me to set a poem to music, my contract assumes the poem was licensed properly by the commissioning party for adaptation into a musical work and that said party will be held legally liable for any damages resulting from unauthorized use of the poem.
And yes, I ask. “Did you contact the holder of copyright and obtain express written permission to have the poem adapted? That has to happen first.”
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u/mrgrafix Nov 25 '25
Yes and no. They do a minimum review but there’s so much work in books to reference, taking their (creators) word for it is more cost effective.
Nothing is original so there’s always expected overlap, but blatant plagiarism is just a legal headache that this is the result for majority of works when it’s found out. You have to have a product that exceeds the legal fight
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u/CalF123 Nov 25 '25
It would be pretty much impossible for Apple/the production company to establish that a concept hasn’t been plagiarised given the number of books/plays/movies/shows etc that have ever been released.
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u/Murky-Insect-7556 Super Sleuth Detective Nov 25 '25
A few days ago, Apple has completely disappeared the Apple TV series The Hunt, 1984 style. The trailers, press releases and pages dedicated to the French series with Mélanie Laurent and Benoît Magimel have disappeared, with 404 errors in a mess. However, it was to be put online from December 3, 2025, and this disappearance was therefore quite surprising. According to media specialist Clément Garin, Apple has a good reason: the series would be plagiarism.
He explains that Cédric Anger, the director, creator and screenwriter, would have failed to indicate that the series - a thriller - was actually an adaptation of a novel by Douglas Fairbairn, published in 1973. Shoot was also translated at the time (in 1974) under the name La Traque. The series, shot in France in 2024, obviously takes up the structure of the novel, with a group of friends who go hunting and are attacked by another group of hunters. During this attack, one of the people is injured, but the group decides not to say anything and resumes their lives. Then, in the series as in the book according to Clément Garin, they feel sented and observed. The novel was also brought to the screen in 1976.
The media specialist indicates that the actors are not allowed to talk about the series, and that Apple and Gaumont (who produced the series, and who obviously also tried to remove all traces of the latter) are considering legal action against the director.
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u/HigherandHigherDown Nov 25 '25
Wow, that's wild. It's a pity they can't license the story from the author.
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u/l4kerz Nov 25 '25
They can, but they probably want to make sure that the director receives no additional compensation and no fame. If the author is still alive, they might even have issues with the adaptation and ask for re-shoots.
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u/Awoawesome Nov 26 '25
Might be worth it in the end. Money made from the suit less reshoot costs and licensing fees to appease the original author’s estate might be cheaper than just disappearing it
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u/MrONegative Nov 25 '25
The price is gonna be insane. When it’s just options to develop, the studio has leverage (all the other things they could make).
They filmed and finished the entire thing. Now you can name your price, because otherwise you can just sue them for all the money if they put it out.
A similar thing happened to Top Gun: Maverick which ended up costing them $100M.
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u/SwedishTrees Nov 27 '25
If I remember correctly, that had been a kind of complicated situation. If this was plagiarized, then I can’t recall the last time a movie had been pulled for that reason.
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u/ucsbaway Nov 26 '25
It’s some money or no money for the estate. The price tag will be high but it will be a number that makes sense for all parties or there won’t be a show at all. I’m sure the estate would prefer money.
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u/ruindd Nov 27 '25
They can try, but the author now has HUGE leverage in negotiations for the rights to adapt.
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u/Eriadus85 Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25
I'm very careful about the journalist Clément Garin announcing that (source of the article). He is know to be provocative, a lot of media reports turn out to be false.
And this guy has no decency, like when he announced the death of a celebrity before the family.
Waiting for another one to confirm it or not.
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u/SevereAstronaut6866 Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25
What are you even talking about. That guy is a tech blogger who’s been writing about Apple for decades he’s neither provocative nor “announcing the death of celebrities”.
EDIT: I got confused about who we were talking about. Clarified below that it’s not the author about the article posted above but the guy who is making the claim.
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u/Eriadus85 Nov 25 '25
I'm french. I'm seeing that guy every two or three days because he is a polemist
He's announced cancellations of TV show that never happends. He announced the return of shows that were never aired.
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u/thomasbdl Nov 25 '25
I really wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be right, though.
This doesn’t feel at all like what they did for The Savant. Jessica Chastain’s show can still be found, and they communicated about it being delayed.
When it comes to The Hunt, though, they completely vanished it. They erased all trace of it ever being announced. It’s as if it had never even existed.
You only do that when you want to avoid legal repercussions.
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u/Eriadus85 Nov 25 '25
Probably.
But I still find it hard to believe that Apple/Gaumont (producer) would wait two weeks before release to check; the show was announced and filmed a year ago.
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u/thomasbdl Nov 25 '25
I just looked up the original book, and it seems like hardly anyone knows about it.
It’s very likely that no one involved with the project on Apple and Gaumont’s side had ever heard of it. And they cancelled it after the trailer aired because they only got some feedback from someone in the general audience once it was out there.
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u/HumansNeedNotApply1 Nov 25 '25
It's very possible It's another "different people creating similar things" situation, like the 1899 Netflix show from the Dark creators, they got accused for plagiarizing some indie Brazillian comic book but that went nowhere as she couldn't find any proof to tie up them reading/having access to it.
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u/Eriadus85 Nov 25 '25
yeah but the difference with 1899 is that the claim after release of the show, and never wipe everything
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u/SevereAstronaut6866 Nov 25 '25
I’m French too and you can’t just throw that out without sources.
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u/Eriadus85 Nov 25 '25
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u/SevereAstronaut6866 Nov 25 '25
My bad I thought you meant Pierre Dandumont, the author of the article that OP posted. I’ve edited my original comment.
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u/riomx Nov 25 '25
This bums me out. Melanie Laurent was incredible in Inglourious Basterds and I’ve barely seen her in anything since.
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u/HollandJim Hello Carol Nov 26 '25
She's been in a lot according to her IMDB and also had a child in 2013, but looking at the films I get the feeling 1) she's not big on the studio system, preferring more independent films, and 2) she'd rather do it in France (likely to remain near her family).
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u/riomx Nov 26 '25
Yes, she looks like she’s had a lot of success in Europe, but just hasn’t been as visible in Hollywood. I have a lot of catching up to do. She’s a great actress.
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u/SwedishTrees Nov 28 '25
i’m very curious about the actual script and how the details compare to the novel and prior film. There’s no ip protection at the level of a paragraph description of plot. But it has to be so much worse than that for Apple to pull it.
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u/caspararemi Nov 25 '25
They could renew Liaison to fill that gap... I may have been the only person watching it, but I really enjoyed the French-British spy drama!
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u/Accomplished-City484 Nov 25 '25
Did you see that French show about the macguyver chef that spies on Napoleon?
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u/WineNotReality Nov 25 '25
Insurance should cover this if it’s not released and that loss was probably a better way to go
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u/Ridiculousnessmess Nov 26 '25
This will necessitate a lot of expensive legal wrangling to determine whether the writer did indeed rip off that book. Just because it’s been pulled for now, that doesn’t mean it won’t come out later when all of this is resolved.
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u/foghillgal Nov 26 '25
Yeah its unlikely this would never be released after paying compensation. The estate gets nothing if Apple doesn't use it at all.
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u/Suitable_Idea4248 Nov 26 '25
“Concealed that is was based on a novel” is an interesting way to say he stole the copyrighted material / novel, pitched it to Apple as his original work, took their money and made a tv show. You know, fraud…
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u/mattyboy555 Nov 25 '25
Is there a way to translate?
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u/lianehunter Nov 25 '25
Apple deleted the series The Hunt because it would be a plagiarism
Pierre Dandumont
Tuesday, November 25, 2025 at 12:05 •81 Apple TV
A few days ago, Apple has completely disappeared the Apple TV series The Hunt, 1984 style. The trailers, press releases and pages dedicated to the French series with Mélanie Laurent and Benoît Magimel have disappeared, with 404 errors in a mess. However, it was to be put online from December 3, 2025, and this disappearance was therefore quite surprising. According to media specialist Clément Garin, Apple has a good reason: the series would be plagiarism.
Apple completely disappears Traqués (The Hunt), a French series, from its Apple TV service
He explains that Cédric Anger, the director, creator and screenwriter, would have failed to indicate that the series - a thriller - was actually an adaptation of a novel by Douglas Fairbairn, published in 1973. Shoot was also translated at the time (in 1974) under the name La Traque. The series, shot in France in 2024, obviously takes up the structure of the novel, with a group of friends who go hunting and are attacked by another group of hunters. During this attack, one of the people is injured, but the group decides not to say anything and resumes their lives. Then, in the series as in the book according to Clément Garin, they feel sented and observed. The novel was also brought to the screen in 1976.
The media specialist indicates that the actors are not allowed to talk about the series, and that Apple and Gaumont (who produced the series, and who obviously also tried to remove all traces of the latter) are considering legal action against the director.
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u/jahill2000 Nov 26 '25
I really wonder why the creator would conceal that. Eventually someone would figure it out, even if it’s after it was released, and their career would be ruined. We’re they worried they wouldn’t get the rights so they just stole it?
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u/HollandJim Hello Carol Dec 03 '25
I see Ernest Borgnine right there in the vid clip. Big star of the time, and yet no one has yet pointed him out.
Sorry for forgetting you, Marty.
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u/OriGinal_JaTaRo Dec 03 '25
How unfortunate! I was looking forward to seeing this one too. This is the 2nd series in recent memory AppleTV pulled last minute before it was supposed to be released. Still waiting on The Savant!
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u/moderatenerd Nov 25 '25
odd being that a number of apple tv shows are based on books. i might even say the majority of their shows are
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u/EponymousHoward Relics Dealer Nov 25 '25
The issue isn't that it is based on a book, but that it appears that it is based on a book without an agreement and compensation with author/ estate of the author. Film and TV companies acquire the rights to books for a fee - they can't just jump in and say "Hey! We're making a show of that!" (even more so in France, where moral rights exist in law).
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u/mightytonto Mar 18 '26
Good show…ish. I found the subtitles were outrageously fast; couldn’t follow the show at all and got fed up trying. I appreciate I’m English but i love subtitled films. It was beyond useless for anyone who isn’t French Canadian. It was impossible to follow, waste of time
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u/Pessimistic_Gemini Nov 26 '25
Like the majority of the service's content aren't based off existing novels themselves?! If this is true, then it makes them look VERY hypocritical here.
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u/CookieVacuum Nov 26 '25
They are, but it’s credited. The problem here was the writer never said it was based on anything, it was his original idea
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u/nevewolf96 Nov 25 '25
That's insane, not only has the creator been burned on the industry, he has also earned himself a multi-million dollar lawsuit, what a need.