Chances are if your favorite show felt different over the years, a showrunner shift occurred at some point behind the scenes.
Law & Order: Organized Crime attempted to solidify itself as a successful spinoff of Law & Order: SVU but instead it has continued to make headlines for numerous showrunners exiting the series. The police procedural, which premiered in 2021 on NBC, stars Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, reprising his role from SVU.
By the time the show was renewed for its fifth season — and moved to Peacock — it had gone through seven showrunner changes. No official statement was made about the numerous swaps in the writers’ room.
Meanwhile, The Handmaid’s Tale became a household name with Bruce Miller at the helm. The hit series then faced a shakeup right before its sixth and final season when Miller stepped down as showrunner. He remained a writer and executive producer but passed on his duties to executive producers Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang.
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“We are ending our show on our own creative terms,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2022 before his departure. “Do I know what happens in season 6? Yes, I did think about the stuff that happens in season 6 for a while.”
Keep scrolling for more shows with significant showrunner swaps:
‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’
When Stabler got his own show in 2020, Matt Olmstead took on the role of showrunner but ultimately stepped down later that year. He was replaced by Ilene Chaiken, who remained on the show for one season before Barry O’Brien took over. Bryan Goluboff became the showrunner for season 3 but left after three months. He was replaced by Sean Jablonski, who left due to “creative differences” and David Graziano took over for the final episodes of the season. After Law & Order: Organized Crime was renewed for a fourth season, John Shiban was brought on as the newest showrunner but he didn’t stick around and Olmstead was brought back to finish up the scripts as an executive producer.
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
When the show was first in development, Chaiken was meant to run the show but Showtime passed on the pilot. Miller became the official showrunner once Hulu picked up the series and remained at the helm until the final season. Miller stepped down in order to focus on adapting The Testaments and Tuchman and Chang were named co-showrunners for the sixth and final season.
‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’
After Netflix announced a reimagined live-action remake of Avatar, creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were named as showrunners. They departed the series in 2020 due to creative differences and Albert Kim came onboard instead. Kim stepped down after the show was renewed and Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani became showrunners for the second and third seasons.
‘Call Me Kat’
The Fox sitcom, which starred Mayim Bialik, hired Darlene Hunt as a showrunner, which lasted for one season until Alissa Neubauer took over. Jim Patterson and Maria Ferrari were announced as the new showrunners for the third season, which turned out to be the show’s last.
‘Designated Survivor’
Amy B. Harris was originally set to be the showrunner in 2016 but stepped down after Designated Survivor was officially picked up. Jon Harmon Feldman replaced Harris until Jeff Melvoin came on to supervise the second half of the first season. From there, writer Keith Eisner took over until the show was canceled on ABC. Netflix revived the series, which paved the way for Neal Baer to be named showrunner.
‘The Walking Dead’
The post-apocalyptic series premiered in 2010 with Frank Darabont at the helm. He departed after one season and Glen Mazzara took over until season 3. Scott M. Gimple was promoted to showrunner for four seasons until he became Chief Content Officer of the entire Walking Dead franchise and Angela Kang replaced him in the writers’ room.
‘West Wing’
The political series was created by Aaron Sorkin in 1999 and he remained with the show until the fifth season. After his departure, John Wells remained the sole executive producer and showrunner until the 2006 series finale.
‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Considering how long Grey’s Anatomy has been on the air, it makes sense that there have been some changes behind the scenes. Shonda Rhimes was the original showrunner for five seasons until Krista Vernoff joined her at the helm. One season later, Rhimes was began working alongside Tony Phelan and Joan Rater and the pair remained in charge when Rhimes stepped down to focus on other projects. From seasons 11 to 13, Stacy Mckee and William Harper were the showrunners before Mckee left and Vernoff returned. Vernoff was subsequently the sole showrunner from seasons 16 to 19 until Meg Marinis took over.
‘Supernatural’
Before Supernatural was picked up by The CW, creator Eric Kripke was developing the show for nearly 10 years. He remained as the showrunner until season 6, which is when Sera Gamble took over. Jeremy Carver was the sole showrunner from seasons 8 to 11 before turning control over to Robert Singer and Andrew Dabb for the remainder of its run.
‘Gilmore Girls’
Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino were at the helm until failed contract negotiations caused them to leave after six seasons. David Rosenthal took over for the seventh and final season but ultimately it wasn’t the same. Sherman-Palladino ultimately returned for the four-part miniseries revival Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.
‘The Office’
Greg Daniels developed the show and served as the showrunner for the first four seasons before leaving for Parks and Recreation. Paul Lieberstein and Jennifer Celotta were named the showrunners for season 5 but Celotta left the series one season later. Lieberstein stayed on for the following two seasons then briefly left to work on a potential spinoff. Daniels returned as showrunner for the ninth and final season.
‘Community’
After basing the script on his experiences, Dan Harmon was the showrunner for four seasons. He was briefly replaced by writers David Guarascio and Moses Port before returning one year later.
‘Seinfeld’
Created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, Seinfeld was run by David for seven seasons. His exit led to Seinfeld — who also starred on the show — to take over for two more years until the 1998 series finale.
‘Dawson’s Creek’
Kevin Williamson left after the first season to focus on another show, which meant Alex Gansa became the new showrunner. A production shutdown — due to the cast’s frustration with the story lines — led to Gansa being replaced by Greg Berlanti in season 3.
