The long-gestating Freddie Mercury biopic was dealt a crushing blow when lead actor Sacha Baron Cohen left the project. Now, screenwriter Peter Morgan claims that the movie is all but dead, according to a report in Hidden Track.

Morgan is reported to have told the BBC that the Mercury film is “probably not going to happen” after Cohen’s departure. Cohen, who was a popular choice to play Mercury in a film, reportedly got into several disagreements with the surviving members of Queen about the direction in which the film was headed. (Brian May, John Deacon, and Roger Taylor maintain an amount of creative control over any film project based on Mercury or Queen.)

Officially, the film is not entirely dead, though it’s likely that a whole new creative team will have to take it over. In  the meantime, fans will have to make do with the collection of unreleased Mercury duets with Michael Jackson due out later this year.