Amazon inks deal with Thrones writer

Amazon Studios has signed an overall deal with Emmy Award-winning producer and writer Bryan Cogman to create TV series.

Cogman is known for his work on drama Game of Thrones. Starting as an assistant to creators David Benioff and DB Weiss, he rose to write many key episodes and eventually became a co-executive producer of the show.

On the feature side, Cogman wrote Disney’s upcoming remake of The Sword in the Stone and is currently working on The Haunted Mansion for the studio.

Amazon last year agreed a deal worth a reported US$250m to acquire global TV rights to The Lord of the Rings fantasy novels by JRR Tolkien and made a multi-season series commitment without a writer attached. It’s not clear whether this will be Cogman’s focus.

This year, Amazon Prime Video will premiere a number of original series including the recently launched Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan starring John Krasinski, Homecoming from creator Sam Esmail and a third season of The Man in the High Castle. FBI thriller Absentia will also return for a second season on the streamer.

Amazon was recently discussed as being more of a threat to Netflix than Disney at C21’s inaugural Content Canada event.