“What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can’t stand each other?” Apparently nothing. The plan was for Pixar to create a film about Newt and Brooke, two newts that go on a crazy adventure and learn finding a mate is no easy task, even when there’s only one choice.

As reported by Pixar Talk, Disney vet Floyd Norman visited the Animation Guild Blog and replied to a comment questioning Newt’s status simply by saying, “Oh, and Newt is dead.” When another visitor probed for more details, Norman answered, “Naturally, our pals up north run a tight ship, so it’s not polite to provide details at this time."

Of course this isn’t an official announcement that the Gary Rydstrom project has been canned, but the outlook is grim. Another site user suggested Monsters Inc. 2 might fill the vacancy. If that’s the case, the demise of Newt will go overlooked. Clearly that concept has been all over the place in terms of status updates; one month it’s happening and the next it’s not. But hey, this is the company that brought us masterpieces like Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up; in Pixar we trust.