Apple has acquired the intellectual property and all rights to the Emmy-winning series “Severance” from Fifth Season in a deal finalized late last year, Deadline has learned.
Sources tell Deadline that the agreement is valued at just under $70 million. Under the terms, Apple’s in-house production arm, Apple Studios, will serve as the primary studio for the series moving forward, while indie producer Fifth Season will take on an executive producer role. The transaction mirrors the earlier handover of another high-concept drama, “Silo,” from AMC Studios to Apple Studios following its first season.
Nellie Andreeva for Deadline:
Severance, a high-end drama said to cost as much as $20M an episode for its 10-episode second season, will become a marquee title in the Apple Studios portfolio, joining popular series such as Your Friends and Neighbors, Stick, Sugar, and Palm Royale and movies such as last year’s tentpole F1.
Like Netflix did 15 years ago with its first crop of original series such as House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, Apple TV started off by leasing series from outside studios as it needed to scale up quickly after its 2019 launch. That remains part of the streamer’s strategy, with some of Apple’s biggest hits, including Ted Lasso and recent entries The Studio and Pluribus, coming from outside studios… More than six years later, Apple Studios produces about half of Apple TV’s slate…
Taking a longer-term view, which is that Severance will run for at least four seasons, Apple TV brass concluded they would be able to make better decisions about the health of the show — including potentially expanding the franchise — and approached Fifth Season about a buyout, I hear.
As of now, Severance has been renewed for Season 3. A fourth season is a lock and factored into Apple Studios’ plans for the show. Stiller and Erickson have spoken publicly about envisioning the series to run for 3-4 seasons; I hear four seasons is the target, and Apple is fully on board.
MacDailyNews Take: Smart. Also, spin offs could help fill the looong gaps between Severance seasons. Especially as shooting for season three isn’t expectd to even start until this summer if all goes well.
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