FandomWire might be a complete bullshit site (I wouldn't know, I don't know them, or care to know them), but thinking about it, this is probably the only way anyone is ever going to learn anything about what went down. We're basically never going to hear any of this from any official sources. Netflix won't talk about this (not even to throw Mike and Bryan under the bus and save themselves), because that would be horribly unprofessional, and Mike and Bryan won't say any more because they've probably said too much already and done damage to their careers.
Both sides might be EAGER to get their word out, but they can't do it. Maybe not even to "reputable fan sites". Like, if a reputable site says "We talked to Netflix insiders, and Netflix says that Mike and Bryan are shit" then that's not very far removed from Netflix saying it themselves, and that's a big no-no. If a reputable site has Mike and Bryan's side of things, then we'll know that's their true side of things, but that will also reflect badly on Mike and Bryan. Right now both sides need their side of the story to get out, but both sides also need to not speak.
But if you talk to a bullshit site, and then the bullshit site says they got the info from vague "insiders", then there's deniability.
IMO, the key thing hinting that this story is bullshit is that this tabloid clickbait site allegedly got leaks from both sides. Unless both sides are leaking like a sieve to all sorts of sites, how did one site happen to land upon a matching set of leaks? Seems possible, but unlikely. But hey, perhaps the presence of false info will push the real sources to leak more, to correct the unofficial record, so maybe there's value even in bullshit.
Setting aside the truthfulness of the article, at the very least the reasons provided seem plausible.
I could absolutely see Mike and Bryan wanting to spare no expense in this production (in animation, you can do anything you can think of, but live action is grounded, and bending reality costs money), while Netflix would obviously be looking for the bare minimum required expense to get to the heart of the story. Like, do you really need a lion-turtle? What if it's just a close-up shot of an ordinary turtle (making it look big)? Oh, that would undermine the "bear" joke. But is the "bear" joke really worth the expense?
I could also see Mike and Bryan taking a hardline "no white people, whatsoever" stance, because they absolutely don't want to be dragged through the Shyamalan movie experience again, and whitewashing was one of the loudest complaints about that movie, while Netflix might be fine with at least considering some white people, for the sake of pragmatism, and might not consider that to be whitewashing. Netflix is maybe not as afraid of the specter of the Shyamalan movie as Mike and Bryan are.
And for the age and tone, I could see Mike and Bryan wanting faithful adherence to the successful work that they did already, while Netflix might be more likely to ask what a lot of us have been asking, "What's the point in trying to do exactly what you did before, but worse? Why don't we mix it up a bit and put a new spin on things?" And aging the cast up potentially makes casting easier (especially if Mike and Bryan are already at odds over the casting), and could make some of the story conflicts work better, and could open the door to new conflicts.
For a bullshit theory, it's a pretty good theory.
