The Sony hacking scandal has, inadvertently, claimed another victim. After Sony's The Interview was pulled from release amid bomb threats aimed at cinemas planning to air the North Korea-mocking comedy, film studio New Regency has cancelled its planned movie adaptation of acclaimed graphic novel Pyongyang, by cartoonist Guy Delisle.

The film was set to be directed by Pirates of the Caribbean's Gore Verbinski, with a script by Steve Conrad. Steve Carell was set to headline, coming off a particularly strong reception to his dramatic turn in Foxcatcher.

Delisle's comic was a gripping memoir of his time working in the communist state, where he was sent to oversee animation work. At times a whimsical look at a culture alien to Westerners, at others a chilling insight into daily life in the oppressive nation, its original publication came about only through a loophole in the confidentiality contract the artist had to sign to even enter the country. The film version was to skew darker, set to be "a paranoid thriller," with production due to start in March 2015.

The decision to cancel was technically made by Fox, which was set to distribute the film but pulled out in the wake of the threats. However, while New Regency could have buddied up elsewhere to get the movie distributed, it instead chose to can it entirely.

Delisle himself only found out the news today, writing on his blog that "What saddens me the most are the reasons that lead to this. One would have imagined that a huge corporation would not bend so easily under the threats of a group of hackers from North Korea. Apparently they hit a sensitive nerve."

It's an excellent point. Not only does the decision paint some of the biggest studios in the movie business as cowardly, it also makes them seem rather shortsighted. Presuming an average two-year production period, chances are that the current crisis would have long since blown over. Given the FBI has confirmed that the Sony hackers were indeed North Korean, some caution is indeed advisable, but is banning the entire project going too far?

In the meantime, Delisle's Pyongyang—and his subsequent travelogues including Shenzhen, The Burma Chronicles, and Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City—remains a compelling insight into some of the world's most controversial locales.

This story originally appeared on Wired UK.