Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, the series architects for Universal Pictures’ cinematic Dark Universe, have departed the project, THR is reporting.  Kurtzman is off to television with CBS, including Star Trek:  Discovery, and Morgan is going back to the Fast and Furious franchise.

This follows a series of other setbacks for the ambitious plan to create an interconnected series of films featuring Universal’s monster franchises, which unveiled a roster of high-priced stars just last summer (see “Universal Unveils Its 'Dark Universe'”).  The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, flopped against its production budget on release in June (see “’Wonder Woman’ Buries ‘The Mummy’”), and production on Bride of Frankenstein, expected to be the next film in the series, was shut down last month in a search for a better script (see “'Gambit,' 'Gigantic,' and 'The Bride of Frankenstein'”).

That leaves no producers at the helm, nothing in production, and a near-empty building decked out in monster regalia on the Universal lot, according to the report.  But while the shared movie universe may appear moribund at the moment, Universal is likely to bring in a new team to develop it, as the properties involved are too valuable to leave inactive.