Eragon and 11 other genre shows and movies shut down by the writers strike

Severance season 2

One of the buzziest new shows of last year was Severance, an Apple TV+ drama about an office where workers don’t remember anything about their home lives when they’re on the job, and vice versa. The series got rave reviews from both critics and fans after its first season, so everyone wants more.

But unless the WGA and AMPTP come to an agreement, they’re not gonna get it, at least not for a while. While Severance is still filming its second season, Deadline reports that shooting was shut down as a result of picketing.

There are actually several shows like this, series that are technically filming but that have shut down at least temporarily due to picketing. They also include Evil on CBS and American Horror Story at FX.

In the case of Severance, things are even more interesting, because there were reports of delays even before the strike started. Word is that there are problems on set related to scrapped scripts and tension between showrunners, although producer and director Ben Stiller denied that anything was wrong…

…at least so far as those rumors were concerned. The production has definitely shut down thanks to the strike. If there is anything to the rumors, this can only make the issue worse.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight

HBO is currently working on two Game of Thrones prequel series: the first, House of the Dragon, already aired its first season to great acclaim in 2022. The second season of House of the Dragon was in the middle of shooting when the WGA called a strike. For better or worse, HBO has decided to keep shooting through the strike, reasoning that the scripts are all finished so they can go ahead without the writers. There are serious risks to that, but we’ll see how it works out for them.

HBO is also working on an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, about a knight and squire who roam Westeros some 90 years before the events of the original series. This one will be written by Ira Parker, who wrote on the first season of House of the Dragon. As Martin himself wrote on his blog, “Ira Parker and his incredible staff of young talents are on the picket lines.”

That means that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is paused for now. Granted, the show wasn’t very far along. While House of the Dragon can theoretically still film new episodes that already have completed scripts, there likely weren’t even outlines produced yet for episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, so it’s a no-go for that show, at least not until the strike is resolved.

There are likely other shows in this situation. For instance, many fans are no doubt looking forward to the second season of The Last of Us on HBO. The first season wrapped up not too long ago, and while the writers are likely working on scripts for season 2, they weren’t done. They won’t return to that work until it’s over, which means proper production can’t begin.