(Fincher, who had been originally attached to direct and executive produce, brought on Flynn to write the series having just worked with her on the feature Gone Girl, which he helmed from a script she had penned based on her book.) The series was in pre-production, and Fincher and Flynn had been rehearsing with the cast that included Rooney Mara, Colm Feore, Eric McCormack, Dallas Roberts and Jason Ritter, when it unraveled after Fincher and HBO could not agree on a budget