Game of Thrones showrunners and executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have set their first new TV series under their $200 million overall deal with Netflix, and it’s almost certainly not what you expect. The duo will executive produce an original six-episode dramedy series called The Chair, which will star Sandra Oh and revolve around the chair of the English department at a major university. Oh will play that lead character, and Jay Duplass will also star.
The show actually originates from Amanda Peet, to whom Benioff is married. Peet will serve as co-creator and showrunner, and co-wrote the pilot alongside Annie Julia Wyman. This marks the first TV writing credit for Peet, who has written two plays: The Commons of Pensacola and Our Very Own Carlin McCullough.
Image via HBO
Benioff and Weiss apparently previously pitched The Chair to HBO years ago, but it sounds like the network passed. The duo had an overall deal set up at the pay cable network but the 12-month job of running Game of Thrones prevented them from making any other shows during their tenure. They had intended to pivot to an alternate history series called Confederate after Game of Thrones ended, but the mere announcement of that show—which imagined a world in which the Civil War ended with the South seceding and slavery still existing in present day America—drew significant ire. The show was quietly scrapped, and as Game of Thrones was wrapping up, Benioff and Weiss moved over to Netflix with a new overall deal to create new TV and film content. The duo were also attached to write a trilogy of Star Wars movies but left that project last year as well, reportedly owing to conflicts with their Netflix projects.
Benioff, Weiss, Peet and Oh will all serve as executive producers alongside Bernie Caufield, who was a vital member of the Game of Thrones producing team throughout that show’s tenure. Benioff and Weiss discretely made their Netflix debut earlier this year helming Leslie Jones‘ stand-up special.
Oh currently stars on the BBC America series Killing Eve, which has been renewed for a fourth season. Her deal to star in The Chair doesn’t remove her from that other series, so fear not Killing Eve fans—she’s not going anywhere.
