Sky released a new teaser for their upcoming limited series, “Amadeus,” on Tuesday — though, it did not receive a standing ovation from fans online.
The Sky Original, which is set to premiere in December, dropped a first-look for the reimagining of Peter Shaffer’s 1981 play (that, in turn, inspired the 1984 film of the same name that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards).
However, fans were quick to put the new iteration of “Amadeus” on blast, calling out the series for casting Will Sharpe, a half-Japanese performer, in the titular role — as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was historically not Asian.
After one X user shared that “literally not a single person was asking for this,” another fan commented on Sharpe’s casting: “I had no idea Mozart was East Asian. It’s a good thing we have Hollywood to provide such historical accuracy here. Were something irregular to happen, like Hollywood portray Obama as a White man, I wouldn’t bother watching.”
“Is this the one where we find out that the true genius behind Amadeus is a paraplegic non binary Black woman that taught him everything,” another person sarcastically wrote on X, “and wrote his music?”
Many also took issue with Sky declaring that they “believe in original stories” while simultaneously promoting a remake. One X user sounded off on Tuesday, “Can we do something new that hasn’t been done before? Maybe? Please?”
“Why on Earth would we need a retelling of a familiar story, when this banger of the movie already exists?” another weighed in. “Just remaster in 4K and make an annual run in movie theaters. I’ve watched it so many times and will watch again gladly.”
A third noted: “lol they really ended that trailer with ‘believe, in original stories??’ Really?? After remaking perhaps the one movie that never, ever, needs to [be] remade??”
“Amadeus,” written by “Black Doves” creator Joe Barton, sees Sharpe stepping into the shoes once filled by Tom Hulce as the famed classical composer.
Barton has since hit back at the criticism, writing on X: “I wrote this. As part of our promotion we are going to destroy every single copy of the 1984 original movie in existence and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.”
Paul Bettany, Gabrielle Creevy, Rory Kinnear, Lucy Cohu, Jonathan Aris and more round out the cast.
The series is produced by Two Cities Television, a part of STV Studios, in association with Sky Studios. Megan Spanjian, Michael Jackson, Stephen Wright, Julian Farino and Paul Gilbert serve as executive producers alongside Sharpe.
Watch the new teaser above.
