Paramount Television Studios has closed an exclusive overall deal with The Wheel of Time creator/showrunner Rafe Judkins to create, develop, and produce original scripted series for the studio. The pact at Paramount’s streaming-focused studio comes amid an effort by the new regime at sibling Paramount+ to find a platform-defining world-building genre series.

Paramount Television Studios President Matt Thunell highlighted Judkins’ experience in the area.

“I have long been a fan of Rafe’s extraordinary writing and producing and am grateful he chose Paramount as his new creative home,” Thunell said. “We are amazed by his ability to build immersive worlds, craft action-packed stories, and realize vibrant characters. We cannot wait to build with him.”

Thunell and his team pursued Judkins for the deal, which reunites the writer-producer with Chris Parnell who is leading genre development for Paramount+ under Head of Originals Jane Wiseman. As Sony Pictures Television Co-President, Parnell developed The Wheel of Time, calling Judkins “a brilliant visionary” in the 2018 announcement of the project’s series order by Prime Video. The Wheel of Time, based on the novels by Robert Jordan and co-author Brandon Sanderson, ran for three seasons. “Right now is a time to take risks and be ambitious in television with the kind of stories we tell and the way we tell them, no matter how big or small,” Judkins said. “That’s the kind of television I want to make, and I feel lucky to have found partners at Paramount who are also looking to expand, take risks, and create something new. I’m honored and excited to be in at the ground floor for what Matt and his team are building.”

Judkins previously had an overall deal at Sony TV where he also developed and wrote an earlier version of the studio’s game-based fantasy drama God of War for Prime Video. He began his career as a writer on the NBC drama series My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater and served as a writer-producer on NBC’s Chuck and ABC/Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He most recently created The Red Tent, based on Anita Diamant’s best-selling novel, which is in development at Netflix.

On the film side, Judkins wrote Uncharted, the top-grossing non-sequel film of 2022, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, and more recently did a rewrite on Foreign Relations, starring Glen Powell. He is repped by CAA, Kaplan Perrone, and Hansen Jacobsen Teller.

At Paramount TV Studios, Judkins joins roster of talent that includes Yellowjackets creators Ashley Lyle & Bart Nickerson, Iron Ocean led by Jessica Biel & Michelle Purple as well as Liz Tigelaar, under a joint deal and CBS Studios. Additionally, the Duffer brothers, Issa Rae and Jon M. Chu have Paramount pacts spanning film and TV.

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