Ryan Murphy Set to Leave Netflix for New Deal at Disney

Super-producer Ryan Murphy is set to make Disney his new home as his five-year, $300 million Netflix deal comes to a close.

According to reports, Murphy has been negotiating his new deal for the past year, and most of the details were finished before the WGA strike started in May.

Once dubbed “TV’s First $300 Million Man,” Murphy is responsible for creating hits such as “Dahmer: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” and “The Watcher” for the streaming service.

Murphy signed the five-year exclusive development deal with Netflix in 2018. To date this partnership has produced two miniseries (“Hollywood” and “Hanson”), three ongoing dramas (“Ratched,” “Monster” and “The Watcher”), three movies (“The Boys in the Band,” “The Prom” and “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone”), three documentaries (“Circus of Books,” “A Secret Love” and “Pray Away”) and one docuseries (“The Andy Warhol Diaries”). “Ratched” and “The Watcher” have been renewed through Season 2,while the “Monster” anthology series has been renewed through three installments. (Note: Seasons 1 and 2 of “The Politician” were ordered by Netflix prior to the deal.)

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It’s not entirely surprising that the Murphy would be considering a move to Disney. Throughout his exclusive Netflix deal, Murphy has remained in close partnership with the Disney-owned FX and, to a lesser degree, Fox. While the Netflix deal has been in effect, Murphy has created new seasons of “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story,” “Pose,” “Feud” and “9-1-1.”

He even created new spinoff series for a handful of these projects. “American Horror Stories” as well as the upcoming “American Sports Story” and “American Love Story” were announced after the Netflix deal went into effect. The same is true of “9-1-1: Lone Star.”

The deal will reunite Murphy with some of the executives who helped produce some of his best known hits. Those execs include Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden, who was instrumental in bringing “Glee” to network. It’s a change that also makes sense considering the current state of Murphy’s biggest network hit, “9-1-1.” Despite being Fox’s best performing scripted show, the network canceled the drama earlier this year due to its cost. ABC, which is owned by Disney, quickly picked up the series.

Bloomberg was the first to report the news.

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