David Benioff and D.B. Weiss on the hunt for new development deal—Who will they pick?

With Game of Thrones in the rearview mirror, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are on the hunt for a new home, with The Hollywood Reporter detailing their search for a deal. Per THR, they’ve narrowed down the candidates to Amazon, Netflix and Disney.

If they decide to go with Amazon, Benioff and Weiss will be joining forces with the streaming service currently bringing a wildly expensive Lord of the Rings show to the small screen (on which Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman is working, by the by). Partnering with Disney would make a lot of sense, since Benioff and Weiss are already making a trilogy of Star Wars movies for Lucasfilm. And if they go with Netflix, they’ll be following in the footsteps of mega-creators like Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy, who have already signed lucrative deals with the streaming service.

“They’re meeting everywhere, which I totally get,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys said back in May, after the Game of Thrones series finale. “It’s a great time to be a creator. People are throwing open doors and throwing money around. So if you’re a creator with a proven track record, it’s a great time.”

So what exactly are Benioff and Weiss looking to get out of a new development deal? Per THR’s sources, they’re looking for a $200 million deal (wowza!) which would well and truly eclipse the $150 million deal Jonathan and Lisa Joy Nolan made with Amazon earlier this year. That deal would likely involve funds to set up a production company, overhead, the works.

I’m curious, though, how exactly can these two can create extra projects when they have a trio of Star Wars films to make. Then again, J.J. Abrams is making a new Star Wars movie while executive producing a mess of TV series, Ryan Murphy has, like, three shows on TV at any given moment, etc. It looks like Benioff and Weiss want to break into the realm of the super-producers who currently dominate Hollywood, rather than focus all their attention on any one thing.

LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 17: (L-R) D. B. Weiss, George R. R. Martin, and David Benioff accept the Outstanding Drama Series award for ‘Game of Thrones ‘ onstage during the 70th Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

With all this talk of a new deal, you have to wonder: why isn’t HBO in the mix? Per THR, a deal with HBO was discussed, but the network decided it didn’t want to compete for Benioff and Weiss given the size of the deal and their looming commitment to Star Wars. Benioff and Weiss will be credited as executive producers on any forthcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, but won’t actually be involved; Jane Goldman is the showrunner for the prequel show for which HBO just shot a pilot.

Since Benioff and Weiss are bidding HBO farewell, it puts the final nail in the coffin of Confederate, a controversial show they were set to do with Malcolm and Nicelle Tramble Spellman that was pretty much dead in the water right after it was announced. In case you haven’t heard about this show, it was going to be set in an alternate universe where the American Civil War was fought to a standstill and slavery still existed in part of the country. Yikes. ““I think anything they have with us would likely not go forward [once they signed a new deal],” Bloys told Deadline. Probably for the best.

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It looks like all that’s is left is to wait and see where Benioff and Weiss land. Any predictions?

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