Warner Bros. TV Group isn’t acting like a studio with an uncertain future. Even as the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery remains up in the air — given the uncertain timeline of a Paramount Skydance acquisition — the studio has been on a development and production spree in recent months.
This summer the division, under chairman Channing Dungey, reupped its megadeal with John Wells — whose hit juggernaut for HBO Max, “The Pitt,” already won four Emmys last weekend and is expected to dominate the drama category at Monday night’s main ceremony.
Also, Variety can exclusively reveal that Matt Reeves and his 6th & Idaho production shingle (“The Penguin”) have reupped their overall deal with Warner Bros. TV. Reeves and company first signed on in 2020 to produce all TV projects with the studio. (“Matt has a true knack for getting into the psyche of his characters and he and his team have delivered some of the most compelling, thought-provoking stories over the years,” Dungey says.)
Other overall deals housed at the company include prolific creators like Greg Berlanti, Bill Lawrence, Chuck Lorre, Mindy Kaling, Lucia Aniello/Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky.
Meanwhile, since January, the studio has landed 12 new series orders — most recently, the long-awaited revival of the “Manifest” franchise at Netflix, “Arrivals: A New Manifest Mystery.” Warner Bros. also lined up pickups for scripted series such as the DC-themed true-crime mockumentary “The People v. Gorilla Grodd” at HBO Max; the Brett Goldstein romantic comedy “Escorted” and horror drama “Stillwater” at Prime Video; the reimagined comic “Afterlife With Archie” at Disney+; and sitcom “I Suck at Girls” at Netflix.
Then there are the dozen series that have been renewed in recent months: “The Pitt,” “It: Welcome to Derry,” “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe” and “Rooster” at HBO Max, “Leanne,” “Untamed” and “Running Point” at Netflix, “Shrinking” and “Bad Monkey” at Apple TV, and broadcast hits “Memories of a Killer” (Fox) and “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” (CBS). At ABC, “Abbott Elementary,” the No. 1 broadcast comedy in multiplatform among adults 18-49, returns for Season 6 next month.
And if that’s not enough, the studio is also spending big on the upcoming “Harry Potter” series it’s producing for sibling HBO Max; and it’s behind one of the most anticipated new series on Netflix in the coming year, “Scooby-Doo: Origins.”
Dungey’s studio domain also includes unscripted fare (including new seasons of “The Real Housewives: New York City,” “The Real Housewives: Salt Lake City” and Season 30 of “The Voice”), syndication (“Extra” and “The Jennifer Hudson Show”) and animation (including recent orders for Genndy Tartakovsky’s “Heist Brothers” and Tubi’s “Yokoso Scooby-Doo”).
As head of WBD U.S. networks, her oversight includes top 10 networks TBS, TNT, TLC and Food Network, and launched the No. 1 new unscripted series with TLC’s “Suddenly Amish.” Also this year, Discovery’s “Shark Week” had its best ratings since 2019, while “Puppy Bowl” scored its best audience in eight years across multiple platforms.
“Certainly when I when I look up toward my boss and everything that’s happening on the corporate level, it’s a complicated time,” says Dungey. “But it is not impacting our day-to-day business in any real way… My focus is continuing to work with the best creatives, develop the best shows, find the best homes for them, and that’s all been happening.”
Variety spoke with Dungey about the state of the studio and cable portfolio, and what’s next.
Two seasons in, what have you learned from the success of “The Pitt?”
What we’ve discovered with “The Pitt” is two things: audiences really love the weekly drop. “The Pitt” isn’t alone in this. We drop “Ted Lasso” weekly, for example. I think that there is something about the event. I think you appreciate them more when you watch them one at a time as opposed to binge. But the other really significant thing is the idea that you have it on an annual cadence. People right now are losing their mind that we’re already putting out teaser trailers for “The Pitt” Season 3 when it feels like “The Pitt” Season 2 just ended. And that feels good to the audience. It keeps them engaged and it keeps them connected to these characters. When you’ve got 18, 20, 22 months between seasons, sometimes even longer, life goes on and you kind of forget. Like, “why did I like that show so much?” I am hopeful that more streamers will put effort into trying to bring shows back on an annual cadence.
How did the “Manifest” spinoff finally happen?
“Manifest” original recipe did very well on Netflix, and there was a desire to continue to explore stories and ideas within that universe. It took a little bit for Varietyschneider Jeff [Rake] and team to nail the right way to approach the concept. Even though it’s taken a little bit of time, I think we’ve now built something else that has a really great long-running engine at its core.
How much does the new show play off the old one? Is it a continuation of the story?
It was very important to Netflix that people who never watched the original could dive in and appreciate it on its own. But if you were a hardcore fan of the original, there’s enough connective tissue and mythology and Easter eggs that reward you for having been a part of this universe for such a long time. That’s part of why it was a little tricky to figure out exactly how we wanted to build it.
Will there be any cameos from the original cast?
Possibly. There’s definitely room for some of that if we choose to. But at this point there aren’t any big plans to do that.
There’s been a lot of conversation lately about the difficulty with Season 2 drop-offs on some of the streamers.
It’s always been hard. Back in the day, I always would say, getting through Season 2 is always the toughest. Because things launch, they’re new, they’re exciting, you’ve got a plethora of stories to tell. Then you have to do that all over again in Season 2 … And then it’s a one-two punch if you take forever to bring it back and then you drop all the episodes and you watch it all in a matter of days. It’s hard to remain part of the conversation.
You were looking to replicate that regular “Pitt”-like cadence with the police drama “American Blue,” which was passed on by HBO Max. How’s the search going to find it a new home?
We still have a couple of bites. We have the finished pilot, and we have another five scripts done to follow it. So if one of these places picks it up, we’ll be ready to rock ‘n’ roll. And we also still have “How to Survive Without Me,” which is the other pilot that we did in contention at Max. That is also the “Pitt” model, but the relationship drama version. It’s Greg Berlanti doing what he did so well with shows like “Brothers and Sisters,” with Ray Romano and Josh Jackson and Kaley Cuoco.
What’s the word on that one?
We should be getting some word imminently. We’re waiting on another script to go into Max, and hopefully that’s the thing that says “greenlight, go.”
Most recently, Hulu canceled Mindy Kaling’s “Not Suitable for Work” after just a season. I know you’re looking to shop it around. How difficult is that? A few years ago a show like that would have been given a second season or would have quickly found a second home on another streamer.
Every platform has their needs and they know what’s going on internally. “Not Suitable for Work” is a tremendous show. I love that cast so much. I’m very hopeful that we land a second season somewhere else. But it’s tough, especially with comedy, you really have to develop that relationship with the characters, and it takes time.
As for “Ted Lasso,” does Jason Sudeikis have another three-season arc? How much of it is mapped out?
We haven’t heard any creative beyond the season that we are finishing editorial on right now. When you get to the end of this season, I think you can see that it could go either way. There’s definitely branching narrative that could continue forward, and if Season 4 becomes the end, then I think it’s satisfying in its own way too.
Is that a Jason call? An Apple call? Who are we waiting on to see if there will be a Season 5?
With this, it’s always a complicated conversation. I think you can say it’s a little bit of everybody.
With the success of “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” how far can you take “The Big Bang Theory” franchise? More series?
This is such a rare gift, right? To have a multi-camera comedy give birth to a single-camera comedy, then to a multi-camera comedy, and back to a single. I don’t think it’s ever been done before that hat trick in exactly that way, I’m really excited that we’re going to be doing a second season. I don’t know if Chuck has another idea in his back pocket for how to extend this universe further, but I’ll certainly be the first in line to hear it if he does.
Let’s talk about your expectations for “Harry Potter” as we get closer to Christmas. This is going to be unlike most launches that you’ve experienced.
Oh, 100%. I’ve never been a part of a of a show this big, in terms of the way this world has been realized. The opportunity that we’ve had to really bring the books to life in the fullest of ways because we’re not limited by a running time in that way has been really exciting and I think will be really rewarding for audiences.
What’s it like to be working on a project where you know it’s going to be going on for years? You can spread out costs and plot things out.
Casey and I joke about this. You feel sort of like you’re the people at the beginning of the marathon carrying the baton, and you’re going to run as far as you go, and then you’re going to hand it to somebody else. Because I mean, this is probably another decade from here. But it’s really been fun to be here at the beginning and to help bring this all to life.
Has any of the corporate uncertainty changed the way you can greenlight a show?
We have not run up against any of those problems or challenges in terms of programming. Certainly as a largely independent studio, we are still buying projects and selling them to all different platforms at all different times. I have not seen any impact in terms of the decisions that Casey [Bloys] and the team are making on the HBO Max side either. And in terms of what we’re doing with the U.S. Nets, most of that programming is done on an annual cadence. We’re well into our buying for ‘27 and ‘28 and all of that is moving forward.
What’s the biggest thing you’ve had to actually put on hold or adjust?
We haven’t really put anything on hold. I think that if this deal continues to go on, we may soon. With some of these longer-term overall deals, it’s not that you’re putting anything on pause, but if you’re going to be making a big long-term commitment, certainly we’re going to want to discuss that with our partners across the aisle.
Have you found that the threshold for green lights has changed at all in the business?
In terms of green lights and acquisitions around town, I think that most of the platforms that we work with, everyone is being a little bit more scrutinous about what they want to buy, what they want to invest in. There was a there was a period a few years ago where it felt like people were ordering everything straight to series off a pitch. And now it’s a little bit more like, “We’d like to see a couple of scripts, maybe three scripts. We want to hear the series pitch for the season before we commit.” And I think it just reflects the fact that everyone’s slates are a little more compressed than they were. People are being much more deliberate about the decisions that they make,
How would you describe the state of development in the industry right now?
It’s been pretty consistent. 2022, 2023 was the beginning of a little bit of a contraction in the business as a whole. And certainly around that time, broadcast got extra skinny. That impacts the number of projects that you’re developing. But I feel like since that time we’ve remained pretty level year over year.
How are budgets looking now? You’re producing what I imagine is one of the most expensive shows on television with ‘Harry Potter.’
I think everybody is being a bit more fiscally responsible than they were in that really boom, bonanza time. In the pre-COVID time it did feel like there was almost a freewheeling attitude toward it, especially from some of the streamers. I don’t think you feel that anymore. We’re spending what we need to spend to make the best possible shows at all different price points.
Sam Register is leaving as head of Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. Are you able to fill that position, or do you have to wait for the ownership issue to be resolved?
That’s absolutely a role that we’ll be looking to fill. Sam built such an incredible team, and the creatives who have been working with Sam for so many years are all still in place. I do want to tap a new leader of the division. We shared the news with Paramount that Sam was going to be departing, but there is no impediment to filling that role.
Now that you’ve been in charge of the U.S. network for a while, how have your thoughts about the future of linear evolved? Can they continue to be programmed as cable networks or at some point do they become more seen as content engines for HBO Max and streaming platforms?
It’s an interesting question and I think it’s both — meaning, there is still a very loyal dedicated audience watching these cable networks on linear. We’re having ratings growth on Food. We launched two new shows, “24 in 24” and “100 Cooks,” that both broke through without having some of our big-name talent attached to them. So there is still a lot of real meaningful growth in linear. But we’ve spent a lot of time talking internally about the fact that in this current day and age, we can’t just think about these networks as linear networks. We do have to think about them as brands, and how can we extend and enhance these brands. So many of them have great consumer connection. Especially when you think about HGTV and Food. People are more likely to buy a can of paint if it has the HGTV logo on it. They’re more likely to download a recipe if it has the Food Network logo on it.
Do you ever think about where they might fit in and be integrated with the Paramount cable networks?
There are definitely some networks that they have that I think could work very nicely with some of ours. The opportunity for growth as you pull things together is potentially very exciting. I am hopeful that there will be a point where we can actually engage in some of these conversations. But for now, it’s all theoretical.
Have you had any conversations with David Ellison about the company, Warner Bros. TV and the cable networks?
I’ve had a couple of meetings with David, but more of a “getting to know you” on both sides and less of “Here’s the vision for the structure in the future.” It’s too early in the process for those conversations.
Would you like to remain a part of this company post-merger?
I love my team at Warner Bros. Television Group. I love our shows, our talent. And I’ve become very happy in my U.S. networks role, which was something that I didn’t see coming almost two years ago. The best-case scenario for me is something that allows me to continue to play around in both of these spaces.
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