Banijay’s global head of scripted Christian Wikander exits after less than a year

Former Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) exec Christian Wikander is departing his role as global head of scripted for European production group Banijay after less than a year.

Christian Wikander

Wikander joined Banijay at the start of 2023 to replace head of scripted Lars Blomgren who joined Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res.

Banijay has confirmed Wikander will depart at the start of February with chief business officer Frédéric Balmary taking interim charge of the scripted team.

In his previous role at HBO Max, Wikander was VP and commissioning editor of original programming for the Nordics, and was previously head of drama at Swedish pubcaster SVT. He exited as a result of lay-offs at HBO Max Europe.

In a statement Banijay said: “During his tenure, he has been integral to driving collaboration across the European studio’s 60+ scripted labels, while concentrating on building a team that is effective in strengthening the pipeline of new IP and returning, critically-acclaimed hits, exploring further format travel opportunities and offering support in financing projects across the footprint.”

The company’s acquisition of Marriage, Help and Becoming Elizabeth producer The Forge at the end of last year took its stable of UK scripted labels to 11 including wholly-owned Kudos, Tiger Aspect and Wild Mercury.

Wikander’s departure from Banijay was first reported by Deadline.