Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss have signed a multiyear film and TV deal with Netflix for a cool $200 million according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The writing duo will leave HBO to create new projects for Netflix who beat out Amazon and Disney for the deal.
Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement, “We are thrilled to welcome master storytellers David Benioff and Dan Weiss to Netflix. They are a creative force and have delighted audiences worldwide with their epic storytelling. We can’t wait to see what their imaginations will bring to our members.”
Benioff and Weiss also released a joint statement that read, “We’ve had a beautiful run with HBO for more than a decade and we’re grateful to everyone there for always making us feel at home.
“Over the past few months we’ve spent many hours talking to Cindy Holland and Peter Friedlander, as well as Ted Sarandos and Scott Stuber. We remember the same shots from the same ’80s movies; we love the same books; we’re excited about the same storytelling possibilities.
“Netflix has built something astounding and unprecedented, and we’re honored they invited us to join them.”
THR reports Amazon was actually the front-runner until July when Netflix made a more competitive offer.
Benioff and Weiss are already in business with Disney as they’re working on a new Star Wars trilogy.
Sources have told THR the pair was hoping to surpass the $150 million deal Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonah Nolan signed with Amazon earlier this year.
The creators have recently been in hot water as many fans were up in arms with the ending of Game of Thrones, however, this didn’t stop the show from getting 32 Emmy nominations – the most nominations by a single show in one year.
Many of those angry fans took to Twitter after the announcement of the deal with Benioff and Weiss.
Some even suggested they’d cancel their subscriptions.
One user made the pretty good point that we wouldn’t “have to worry about another half-assed eighth season since Netflix shows never get that far anyway”. So, maybe the shows they make will actually be alright?
But seriously, with just some of that $200m Netflix could have created another season of The Santa Clarita Diet. And no, I’ll probably never get over that cancellation…