The Hollywood Reporter just released its list of the 50 most powerful TV producers in Hollywood for this, the year of our lord 2024. It's full of names you would expect, including Lauren LeFranc, the woman behind HBO's hit The Penguin; Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, who probably made the best show of the year in Shōgun; and Ryan Murphy, who's scored hit after hit with shows like Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, 9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey.
Also included on the list where a trio of producers behind shows in HBO's Game of Thrones franchise: first up there's Ryan Condal, who's running the Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon. He offered some advice to his younger self: “Don’t take it so seriously. It’ll be fine. Have more fun. Enjoy the little victories. Travel. Write more specs.” And as for how he gets over writer's block? “2,500 crew members staring at me.”
Condal and his team have recently come under criticism from author George R.R. Martin, who wrote the book on which House of the Dragon is based. We'll see if that clash comes to anything when the third season of House of the Dragon comes out in 2026. Elsewhere, the two men who served as showrunners on the original Game of Thrones show — David Benioff and Dan Weiss — have moved on to the sci-fi drama 3 Body Problem on Netflix, together with Alexander Woo. The three of them also made the list. They named the last thing they watched that made them "jealous," and came up with some pretty diverse answers:
"Weiss “The White Lotus”
Benioff “Blue Eye Samurai"
Woo “Taskmaster”"
If the next season of 3 Body Problem contains slice-of-drama at a resort, samurai battles or celebrities playing goofy games, now we know why.
Although they were offered one, Benioff and Weiss opted to turn down a producer credit on House of the Dragon, so they've well and truly moved on from Westeros. Next year, a new Game of Thrones prequel called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms will air on HBO. Maybe showrunner Ira Parker will make the 2025 list.
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