{"id":325387,"date":"2026-03-06T18:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T18:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/325387\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T18:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T18:34:07","slug":"war-between-the-land-and-the-sea-cut-a-giant-squid-storm-from-its-sea-devil-invasion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/325387\/","title":{"rendered":"‘War Between the Land and the Sea’ Cut a Giant Squid Storm From Its Sea Devil Invasion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Doctor Who spinoff Disney is still refusing to broadcast<\/a> despite helping to pay for it,\u00a0The War Between the Land and the Sea, is not very good<\/a>. It\u2019s not very good for a lot of reasons, but one of them in particular is that, for a show called\u00a0The War Between the Land and the Sea that has a lot of characters talk about a war occurring between the land and the sea, it barely ever actually shows a conflict between the land and the sea. But that was apparently not always going to be the case.<\/p>\n

Speaking recently at the Gallifrey One convention in Los Angeles, series co-showrunner Peter McTighe (via Cultbox<\/a>) described a scene cut from an early moment in the show<\/a>, as tensions between humanity and Aquakind (the show\u2019s modernized term for the Sea Devils<\/a>) begin to escalate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was only one big effects sequence that we ended up having to cut which was from the start of Episode 2, which was going to open in this beautiful restaurant on the Italian coast,\u201d McTighe explained. \u201cThis young, hot couple were arriving in a sports car and then went into this amazing restaurant that had glass view of the sea that was beautiful. They sit down and he was going to propose to her and say he loves her and then suddenly, a squid was going to slap onto the window. And they were like, \u2018Sorry, what was that?\u2019 And then another one would spat onto the other window and then another one, another one. And suddenly, there were all these squid attacking this restaurant and the windows exploded!\u201d<\/p>\n

McTighe went on to explain that the sequence was ultimately cut to save visual FX budgets for the same episode\u2019s climax, which saw Aquakind representative Salt (played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) ceremoniously dump every piece of waterborne trash dumped by humankind back onto land\u2014a dramatic set piece actually important to War Between\u2018s overall story (even if the show ultimately shunts cleanup and response to the massive logistical issues of such an event into the background for the remainder of its run).<\/p>\n

It makes sense as a budgetary cut in that regard, but it\u2019s also a shame because it would\u2019ve been one of the rare moments of tit-for-tat skirmishing between human and aquakind the show would\u2019ve actually had, and would\u2019ve helped actually communicate the growing escalation in conflict between the two sides as part of the supposed war that was meant to be happening in the background of the show\u2019s ultimate interest, a Shape of Water-type relationship between Salt and lead negotiator Barclay (Russell Tovey).<\/p>\n

Alas, it wasn\u2019t to be. At least the last episode opens with an implication that Aquakind lures, captures, and eats every dog<\/a> on the planet off-screen instead? Yeah.<\/p>\n

The War Between the Land and the Sea is now streaming in its entirety in the UK on BBC iPlayer. The series is still expected to stream on Disney+ internationally at some point in 2026.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n