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'Abbott Elementary' to 'Yellowjackets': All the shows affected by WGA writers strike

With WGA Writers strike, here are all the shows getting affected by it

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have officially begun their strike and this is the first time in 15 years that the organization is on a strike. This strike means that writers won't be working as they try to negotiate a better deal with studios. If writers go on strike, it means a lot of scripted shows will undoubtedly be impacted by the ongoing protest. Before we get to know the shows that will be facing a lot of halts, let’s take a look at why several members of the WGA are protesting on the streets.

The Writers Guild of America went on strike on Monday, May 1, 2023, after it failed to negotiate a new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which includes production giants such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount, and Sony. The deal would have guaranteed better pay for all their projects, be it movies or television shows. The strike has started to show its impact because a lot of late-night shows have gone dark and the titles that are yet to be shot are also facing a lot of halts.

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Let’s take a look at all the shows that are being impacted by this strike:

Late Night shows go DARK

All the late-night shows have gone on a hiatus and won’t be returning till the time a deal has been signed. Talk shows such as ‘Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!’ (ABC), ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ (CBS), ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ (NBC), and ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’ (NBC) have gone dark and repeats will be shown. On the other hand, HBO has also decided to stop the production of ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ and ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ because of the strike.

‘Abbott Elementary’ (ABC)

The highly anticipated Season 3 of ‘Abbott Elementary’ is also on a hiatus and writers will only start working once they get the assurance that they will get a fair deal. The news was confirmed by writer Brittani Nichols, who shared that the strike is surely going to impact the number of episodes that Season 3 will have. In simpler terms, if their demands are not fulfilled, the third edition of ‘Abbott Elementary’ will be much shorter than expected.

In an interview given to ‘Democracy Now,’ Nichols noted that the show “will not” come in time if the strike goes on for a significant period of time.

‘Yellowjackets’ (Showtime)

The writing on the blockbuster Showtime series has also been halted after the strike. Co-creator of the series Ashley Lyle confirmed the news on her official Twitter account and wrote that they just began the writers’ room for Season 3 of the show. However, they had to take a step back because of the strike and will only return when WGA members get a fair deal.

‘Yellowjackets’ is currently airing its second season on Showtime and receiving a lot of praise for its extraordinary writing. 

‘Cobra Kai’ (Netflix)

The beloved Netflix series aired its fifth season last year and announced that show will be coming to an end with its sixth edition. The writers’ gathered recently to start pitching ideas about how they should take the story forward, but sadly, they have put their “pencils down.” Series co-create Jon Hurwitz announced that the writing will begin once the strike ends and no writers are currently on set for Season 6 production.

Will other Netflix shows get affected? Of course, a lot of shows will be affected but Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has made it clear that the streaming platform has a “large base of upcoming shows and films from around the world.” He also noted that they don’t want to go on a strike and want this issue to be resolved as soon as possible.

‘Good Omens’ (Amazon Prime Video)

If you are a fan of ‘Good Omens’ and expected Neil Gaiman to promote it wholeheartedly, then we have some bad news for you. Gaiman, who is also a member of WGA, came out in support of the strike and noted that he will be joining the strike soon. However, he made it clear that he won’t be able to promote the show as he would have wanted to.

But the good thing is that Season 2 of the series is already completed and handed over to the network. So, we can expect the show to release on time.

‘Saturday Night Live’ (NBC)

The late-night live television sketch comedy is also supporting the WGA strike and has gone dark. According to a statement released by NBC, the network will air “repeats” until further notice. Former SNL member Pete Davidson was going to host the latest episode for the series and Lil Uzi Vert was the musical guest.

The show was originally poised to air three new episodes this month.

What about movies?

There’s a lot of uncertainty around movies because they take two or three years to produce and while we may not see any immediate effects of the strike on the big screen, it will definitely going to haunt everyone in about a year or two from now.