John Cusack dodging pieces of falling mountain may have been perfect of the big screen but the 2012 idea is apparently too ambitious for the small screen.

Rumors have been circulating for a while that a television series based on the disaster movie could be in the works that would chart the lives of some of the survivors. The series would be set in Africa which survived the apocalypse and the original idea was to develop a theme very similar to that of ABCs Lost.

We tried to do that. But the TV people soon realized what we really wanted to do with the concept, Roland Emmerich explained. They said, You cannot do this on television.So I said, Let's not do it.It was just too big for TV. What we wanted to do."

Does that mean a slightly less-extravagant version will be in the pipeline? Not if Emmerich has anything to say about it. The director has opted out of working on a cheaper version of the 2013 series as those kind of changes would compromise his original vision.

For more on the "2013" premise, please click here.