Dahmer Proudcer Ryan Murphy Leaving Netflix for Disney

Ryan Murphy is leaving Netflix for Disney – which is something of a shock, considering Murphy just saw massive success with his recent Netflix docu-series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Dahmer inspired a whole new true-crime drama anthology franchise for Murphy, to go along with his long-running horror anthology series, American Horror Story (and its spinoff, American Horror Stories). 

Monster aside, however, Murphy wasn’t seeing the same kind of success on Netflix that he did at Fox TV (and its FX networks affiliate) during the 2010s. Murphy and Netflix formed their partnership in 2018, during the same time that the Disney-Fox merger was taking place, shifting the creative scales of Fox networks in the process. Netflix was in an era where the streamer was campaigning to lure in big-name creative talent by throwing obscene sums of money at them with the promise of creative independence. However, as analysts have tracked in the years since, Netflix’s strategy in the late 2010s was not as effective as the company hoped. The so-called “premium” content those same creators were supposed to create didn’t hit the numbers or generate the social media buzz Netflix wanted – while up-an-coming talents like The Duffer Brothers turned smaller properties like Stranger Things into Netflix’s most coveted content as the 2020s began.

 Ryan Murphy didn’t connect with Netflix films he directed like The Prom (2020) or ones he even produced, like Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022); even TV series in his wheelhouse like the revisionist throwback to Hollywood’s golden age (Hollywood) or the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest prequel series Ratched also floundered on Netflix. Only Monster and the suburban stalker series The Watcher became blow-out hits for Murphy on Netflix in 2022 – with Dahmer being the only real mainstream zeitgeist hit that Murphy ever produced for Netflix (and not without a ton of backlash, as well). 

Ryan Murphy heading to Disney may initially sound strange, but it does make sense – and the move has reportedly been in the works for some time. Disney is now the parent company for FX and FX on Hulu, a familiar home for the TV/filmmaker – who never fully severed ties with FX and its head, John Landgraf.  It’s potentially mutually lucrative: Disney is looking to continue diversifying its content portfolio through affiliates like FX on Hulu, and Murphy’s works are creative staples that will help achieve that diversification. Meanwhile, Disney certainly has the resources to fund Murphy – and arguably the tighter creative constraints that may help him get back to those consistent hits.