Less than a week after Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merged into Skydance, the mega studio lost one of HBO’s key creators. Per Deadline, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson is skydiving into Amazon MGM Studios with a new overall deal, making his difficult-to-produce dramas about the sex lives of hot young people Jeff Bezos’ problem. First order of business is to develop and produce something as buzzy as Euphoria for Prime Video, which remains Levinson’s high-water mark.
The son of writer-director Barry Levinson made a name for himself on Euphoria, a teen drama that managed to do what few others could: Launch several young stars, including Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, and Sydney Sweeney. Though many have debated the quality of the series, it has been a constant conversation starter, both for its highly sexualized depictions of teens on drugs and the long delays between seasons. His much-hyped HBO follow-up, The Idol, enjoyed one season of The Weeknd torturing Lily-Rose Depp before disappearing into a sea of set gossip about the series’ tortured production and brutal reviews.
Levinson’s non-Euphoria work has not been a hit with critics or audiences. He co-wrote his dad’s HBO movie about Bernie Madoff, Wizard Of Lies, and wrote and directed three features: 2011’s Another Happy Day, 2018’s Assassination Nation, and the 2021 two-hander, Malcolm & Marie, starring Zendaya and John David Washington. Nevertheless, Prime’s Head of Global Television Peter Friedlander is excited to work with “one of the most daring and original voices” in TV, giving the famously slow-moving creator a lot of leeway. Friedlander says he’s “thrilled” to grant Levinson and his producing partner and wife, Ashley, “the creative freedom” to explore their “fearless commitment to authentic storytelling.” Let’s hope Mr. Friedlander is as patient as he is excited.
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