What Is Happening?
A second strike started up in Hollywood yesterday and it will have far-reaching implications for sci fi and fantasy TV shows as well as all of the entertainment industry. As of midnight last night, the actors are officially going on strike and that will essentially bring Hollywood to a halt considering that the writers have already been on strike for over seventy days. The actors are asking for adjustments to compensation and benefits that are in line with the current, streaming-heavy environment, and they are also trying to establish terms on how AI is used for fear that it could potentially replace some acting jobs (you can read more about the actors’ demands at this link). They will be taking to the picket line today, and since both sides appear to be very far apart, this labor movement could drag on for a while.
How Will This Impact Sci Fi TV Shows?
The immediate impact is that pretty much all production will halt. The writers’ strike already caused stoppages for shows that needed completed scripts, and in some cases showrunners chose not to move forward in solidarity with the labor movement. Now with the actors on strike, even shows with scripts will be shuttered (movie production will stop as well). Post-production and maybe some pre-production is pretty much all that will be ongoing in the entertainment industry for now.
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power had just finished its filming and HBO’s House of the Dragon will allegedly move forward with shooting on its second season since that production is in Europe and subject to different rules. But many other shows like Stranger Things Season 5, The Sandman Season 2, Severance Season 2, American Horror Story Season 12, The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6, and more will likely shut down for now. And with two strikes in place, it could take some time to sort all of this out and get production back to a normal schedule.
Will Shows Be Cancelled Due to the Strike?
There will definitely be cancellations coming from this, and basically, all bets are off at this point. I wrote previously that the writers’ strike could lead to cancellations, pointing back to several shows that fell during the 2007-08 strike. We have already seen production cancelled on Sam Esmail’s upcoming Metropolis series due to the strike (the planned Gattaca series was axed as well), and there have been other cancellations that could be linked to it as well such as The CW’s Gotham Knights. Now with another labor movement in place, I expect even more shows to fall.
The fact is that networks, streamers, and studios may very well take punitive action because of the strikes, and I would say that no show is safe at this point. The entertainment companies are already feeling the pressure from over-saturation of the market and overspending (more on that at this link), and these labor movements could very well present the opportunity for a major reset. I expect that high-profile tentpole shows like Stranger Things, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Mandalorian, and others will continue to move forward once the strikes are resolved. But we have already seen a casualty among the Star Trek entries with the cancellation of Prodigy, and I would not be surprised if HBO scaled back its Game of Thrones spin-off plans. So I don’t believe that any franchise is untouchable at this point. I previously put up a post looking at shows that could be impacted by the writers’ strike, and I will be revisiting that now that the actors are joining the picket line.
What Is Next?
For now, sci fi fans will just have to wait and see and hope that their favorite shows do not fall victim to the labor movements. And while they are waiting, there are plenty of shows to catch up on across the streaming services and linear networks. This is where the networks and studios have the upper hand because they still have plenty of content, and they can also push their foreign-made shows which are not impacted by the strike.
I recommend taking this opportunity to check out shows that you might have missed (I will be putting up some suggestions in future posts), but I also suggest some support for the actors and writers. These people work hard to bring us the shows that we love and they deserve to get paid fairly. And if you don’t have much sympathy for those actors getting multi-million dollar contracts, understand that they represent only a small percentage of the total. As you will see from the SAG-AFTRA demands, they are asking for compensation that allows them a middle-class standard of living, and you can hardly fault them for that.
Stay tuned to this site for news and updates relating to the strikes and how they are impacting the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows. And you can keep track of the status of all the current genre entries at our Cancellation Watch Page.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
given the state of television – especially science fiction television – I doubt whether we’ll be missing much if the strike last for the next 100 years.
I would like to see a speedy and fair resolution to the strikes, but the opportunity to catch up on a bunch of shows sure would be nice.