The Writers Strike: Every Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Project Impacted (So Far)
Key Highlights :
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called a strike on May 2, after the American Motion Picture and Television Producers union failed to offer acceptable counters and terms. Struck companies include Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Apple, and the strike will likely affect dozens of productions across the next few months.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror projects that have been impacted by the writers strike, along with some notable projects that are not affected by it. We will update this article as we get more information.
Andor has continued production despite the strike. All scripts have been turned in, and Tony Gilroy — the showrunner and head writer — is on set doing “non-writer” production work.
Big Mouth
According to Variety, Big Mouth is likely impacted. There have been no announcements, but the animated show’s eighth and final season was greenlit this year and writers had begun work.
Mahershala Ali’s Blade has been paused. Marvel has faced numerous roadblocks with this production, and the movie was undergoing rewriters the last time we heard an update.
Cobra Kai
Cobra Kai’s Jon Hurwitz has tweeted in support of the WGA and said that he would not be returning to set without writers.
Fear the Walking Dead
According to the Wrap, AMC’s production schedule, which includes Fear the Walking Dead, has not been affected.
Good Omens
While Good Omens season two has finished production, head writer Neil Gaiman — who’s part of the WGA and in support of the strike — said that the promotion for the show would likely be impacted.
House of the Dragon
As reported earlier, House of the Dragon has resumed production without any writers on set. All the scripts had been turned in, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the writing was finished, as many scripts are edited during production. The showrunner has, reportedly, returned to work. The show had just begun production. George R. R. Martin has issued a statement in support of the strike, and clarified that “the scripts for the eight s2 episodes were all finished months ago, long before the strike began, Every episode has gone through four or five drafts and numerous rounds of revisions, to address HBO notes, my notes, budget concerns, etc. There will be no further revisions. The writers have done their jobs; the rest is in the hands of the directors, cast and crew… and of course the dragons).”
Interview With the Vampire
According to the Wrap, AMC’s production schedule, which includes Interview with the Vampire season two, has not been affected.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
The HBO Game of the Thrones spinoff has gone dark. According to George R. R. Martin, “Ira Parker and his incredible staff of young talents are on the picket lines.” The synopsis for the HBO series: “A century before the events of Game of Thrones, there was Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg. Executive produced by George R. R. Martin, Ira Parker, Ryan Condal and Vince Gerardis, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight has received a straight to series order.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two will continue with its production, but without the writers or the showrunners — J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay — working on it. This was a planned move, and Payne and McKay left instructions on how to finish shooting in event of a strike.
Severance
Apple TV+’s Severance, which was already facing some delays, has had some disruption as season two production was delayed by the strike. Deadline reports that IATSE and Teamsters refused to cross a NYC picket line, and the WGA shut down the production.
Stranger Things
The Duffer Brothers tweeted that Stranger Things would not be resuming work until “a fair deal is reached.” Stranger Things is headed into its fifth and final season.
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon
According to the Wrap, AMC’s production schedule, which includes The Walking Dead spinoff, Daryl Dixon, has not been affected.
Strike Info
The takeaway here is not that our favourite shows are going to fail, but that through corporate greed and a failure to adjust to the times, television and movie writing has become a depreciated, devalued, and uninviting career. Writers are struggling to make rent, while David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros, makes more than $US35 million a year.
This is an existential, necessary move that many writers did not want to do, but did so out of a desire to keep their profession alive and to help lead the way for other unions to act in their own power as negotiations come up with AMPTP later in the year. Overall, writers as asking for $US500 million spread across nearly 12,000 writers; this is a 3% increase. Considering the billions of dollars streamers and studios are making, their requests seem pretty reasonable.
You can keep up with how to support writers by visiting the WGA contract site.
