Matthew Weiner has exited The Chairman, the high-profile drama series starring Eddie Murphy in development at Peacock, Deadline confirmed, with the news first reported by Variety. Weiner had been brought on as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the project from David Glasser’s 101 Studios and Universal Television.
According to sources, the split was creative and came from executives at Peacock, Universal TV, and 101 Studios, based on Weiner’s pilot script. Weiner had reportedly been brought in to develop an idea already conceived and pitched to Murphy, but the version he ultimately delivered diverged from that original concept. A new showrunner is expected to be named in the coming days, and the writers room, most of whom are expected to stay on, has gone on a two-week hiatus to accommodate the transition. Plot details for the series remain undisclosed.
The Chairman would mark Murphy’s first scripted series and his first live-action starring role since his Saturday Night Live days, as well as 101 Studios’ first announced project under its first-look deal with NBCUniversal, which began in January. The project is also the first to emerge from former Paramount boss Chris McCarthy’s NBCUniversal deal, which places him in a consulting role overseeing the studio’s relationship with Glasser and 101 Studios. Murphy serves as a producer on the series in addition to starring.
For Weiner, the departure is a significant setback. Best known for creating Mad Men, which won 16 Emmy Awards over seven seasons on AMC, The Chairman would have marked his first TV writing credit since 2018’s The Romanoffs, a single-season Prime Video series that was met with a largely critical reception. Pairing two high-profile figures each navigating a notable career lull, Weiner coming off The Romanoffs and Murphy pursuing yet another reinvention, made the project a genuinely unusual bet from the start, one that’s now lost half of what made it distinctive before a single episode has aired.
With a new creative team still unnamed and the writers room on pause, the next real test for The Chairman is whether Peacock can recruit a replacement capable of generating the same industry intrigue Weiner’s involvement originally brought to the project.