It isn’t entirely clear when or why Simien left Lando, but in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter from earlier this week, he said that “the last thing I was told was that they loved it but needed to put a pin in it until they could figure out everybody’s availability.”

Despite that positive feedback, Simien also expressed some concern about his identity as a Black, gay man negatively impacting the viability of projects he develops for studios.

“But I can’t help but wonder, ‘Am I too Black? Am I too queer? And people just don’t want to say that,’” Simien said. “Because it seems like I develop things with these companies and they just never happen for reasons unknown.”