Polygon has published a retrospective on one of cinema's great what-ifs: Sofia Coppola's unmade adaptation of The Little Mermaid, a project the director walked away from roughly 12 years ago.

The piece frames Coppola's planned version as a dark take on the fairy tale — a sharp contrast to the family-friendly treatments the story has received since — and its writer admits the abandoned film still 'lives rent free' in their head more than a decade later.

The article lands as part of Polygon's steady diet of film coverage alongside its gaming beat, and it closes on a direct appeal: it's not too late for Coppola to make the movie. Given the appetite for auteur-driven reimaginings of familiar stories, the piece is as much a pitch as a retrospective — and a reminder of how long a cancelled project can linger in fans' imaginations.