Netflix paid $55 million for a 'visionary' sci-fi epic that was never finished. We saw a glimpse of it at the director's criminal trial.

"When Netflix executives first saw a glimpse of "White Horse" in 2018, they were blown away. Cindy Holland, who at the time oversaw the streaming service's original content, read the script sitting in Keanu Reeves' home, she said in court testimony earlier this month. "White Horse" was the brainchild of Carl Rinsch, who had previously directed Reeves in the big-budget "47 Ronin.""

"At the time, Rinsch had already created a trailer and six preliminary episodes of "White Horse," funded in part with his own money. Holland testified she found the footage "stunning" and the script "really impressive." "I believed we should pursue the project," testified Holland, who is now an executive at Paramount. Netflix agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars on the project, but "White Horse" was never finished."

""White Horse" depicts a world with artificially created "Organic Intelligence" beings, which resemble humans. When the world discovers they're not flesh-and-blood humans, the artificial beings create their own private cities, walled off from the rest of the world, and form their own society. In 2018, Netflix agreed to pay $44 million for Rinsch to deliver about 13 episodes, ranging from about four to 14 minutes and totaling about 120 minutes."

Netflix executives were impressed by early "White Horse" footage and a script read at Keanu Reeves' home. Carl Rinsch created a trailer and six preliminary episodes, partially funded with his own money. Netflix agreed to pay $44 million for about 13 short episodes and later provided an additional $11 million to finish the project. The series, a sci-fi premise about artificially created "Organic Intelligence" beings who form walled cities, was never completed. Rinsch was tried in Manhattan federal court and found guilty of defrauding Netflix by using the final $11 million for personal expenses.

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