Disney Plus orders Bruce McCulloch comedy and a doc about one of Canada's largest manhunts

The federal government wants the CRTC to revisit a decision requiring foreign streamers to invest more in Canadian content. Annie Bergeron-Oliver has more.

Disney Plus says it has ordered two made-in-Canada series, marking the first time the U.S. streaming giant has ordered original, locally produced content north of the border.

One of the shows is a scripted comedy executive produced by Bruce McCulloch of “Kids in the Hall” fame.

The eight-episode series is called “Knighted.” Co-created by Mike Mildon and Jackson Rowe, the comedy is described as an absurd, docu-style look at the secrets in a medieval-themed dinner-theatre company.

It’s produced by Heavy Lifting Productions, who are also behind the upcoming P.K Subban drama “Junior” that was recently ordered by CBC.

Disney Plus also says it’s greenlit a three-part true crime documentary called “I’m Not Coming Back,” about a 2019 manhunt for the teenage suspects in a Northern British Columbia killing spree. After a lengthy search police found the bodies of the fugitives and said they died by suicide after confessing in a video to killing three people.

The series is directed by St. Albert, Alta.-born Brent Hodge, who was also behind the 2015 doc “I Am Chris Farley” and 2018’s “Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary.”

Disney Plus launched in Canada in 2019, and while some of its shows had strong Canadian connections, including “The Testaments” based on Margaret Atwood’s novel and the Nova Scotia-set series “Washington Black” based on Esi Edugyan’s Giller Prize-winning book, both were produced by American companies.

Disney says “Knighted” and “I’m Not Coming Back” are its first two Canadian originals, marking “an important step” in expanding into Canadian storytelling. The company declined an interview request. No release dates were shared.

The announcement comes on the heels of the government asking the CRTC to review a recent order that requires all foreign streamers to invest 15 per cent of their revenues from Canada into Canadian programming — three times the five per cent initial requirement the CRTC set out in 2024, which is still being challenged in court.

The government suggested that ordering the streamers to increase their investment would raise prices for Canadian viewers who want to subscribe to their services.

The Directors Guild of Canada, ACTRA and the Canadian Media Producers Association all issued statements accusing the government of cowering to Big Tech and creating uncertainty for the future of the Canadian film and TV industry.

The Motion Picture Association, which represents the foreign streamers in Canada, said it was “encouraged” by the government’s new policy direction, but that certain concerns about the Online Streaming Act’s framework “remain unresolved.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2026

Craig Macrae, The Canadian Press