Last night, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announced that their members were on strike, in hopes that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will meet their demands. Those include a greater share of record revenues in the era of streaming, greater job security, limits on the use of AI to write screenplays, and more.
Will the writers get everything they’re asking for? Probably not, but the hope is that they’ll get enough that they’re willing to end the strike. The last time Hollywood writers went on strike was in 2007. That lasted for around 100 days and delayed production on many series and movies.
Depending on how long this strike goes on, that could happen again. Shows that don’t yet have completed scripts for their new seasons, like HBO’s The Last of Us, are in particular danger of delay. However, we probably don’t need to worry about shows that are already shooting finished scripts, at least not now.
House of the Dragon will keep shooting season 2 through the writers’ strike
For instance, HBO already has scripts for all eight episodes of the second season of House of the Dragon, the network’s Game of Thrones prequel series. Shooting is going on now. The first season was a big hit for HBO, so they surely want to get out more episodes sooner rather than later.
And according to a source that spoke to Variety, shooting on House of the Dragon will not be affected by the writers’ strike, since the scripts are already finished. We’ve heard recently about the show adding new cast members and shooting at key locations like Harrenhal.
So things are on track for House of the Dragon season 2 to premiere in 2024. That said, there could still be complications. For example, it’s unclear how the strike would affect things like rewrites or addition, which sometimes happen during production. If showrunner Ryan Condal made a change to a line, would that be in violation of the strike?
Also, we’ve heard that HBO may renew the show for season 3 early, the better to get a move on things and ensure that the wait between seasons 2 and 3 isn’t as long as the one between seasons 1 and 2. If that happens, the writers’ strike could delay things by keeping HBO from reassembling the writers’ room.
We’ll keep our eyes open for more news on this.
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