Shawn Levy and 21 Laps Entertainment have a new television home. The producer-director has signed an overall deal with Disney’s 20th Television that begins in October 2027, moving his primary TV development pipeline from Netflix, where he has been based since 2017.
The agreement calls for Levy and his company to develop and produce new series across Disney’s platforms. It is also a reunion with Dana Walden, Disney’s president and chief creative officer, with whom Levy worked during their time at Fox.
A full-circle move
Levy directed episodes of Disney Channel’s The Famous Jett Jackson and So Weird before becoming a film director. “Years before I directed movies, I started my career directing and producing television episodes for Disney Channel,” he said in a statement, adding that Disney’s storytelling ethos “honestly just feels like home.”
Walden called his storytelling “wildly entertaining and deeply human.” Disney Entertainment Television chairman Debra OConnell also pointed to his film work and his run as one of television’s most prolific producers over the past decade.
What 21 Laps brings
The Disney deal lands after a Netflix run that made Levy one of television’s better-known producers. His credits there include:
- Stranger Things and animated spinoff Tales From ’85
- The Perfect Couple
- All the Light We Cannot See
- Shadow and Bone
Levy also carries film-side momentum with Disney: he recently wrapped the Star Wars feature Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling, directed and produced Deadpool & Wolverine, and is reteaming with Gosling and screenwriter Jonathan Tropper on a Ghost Rider movie.
Levy said he will continue working with Netflix on the Stranger Things universe from the Duffer Brothers. “I will forever cherish the incredible ride 21 Laps has had with Netflix,” he said.
Why the deal matters
Overall deals are the pipeline mechanism for TV development. A producer of Levy’s scale can influence where a streamer’s next premium franchises originate. For Disney, the October 2027 start creates a visible content succession plan even as it integrates television and film assets.
For Netflix, the departure is qualified rather than total: Levy retains his Stranger Things role, so the streamer keeps its flagship franchise collaboration while losing first position on 21 Laps’ new TV projects. Because the start date is October 2027, the announcement is a forward-looking commitment rather than an immediate programming change.
The list of current projects also shows how overlapping film and TV universes can make a producer more valuable to a single corporate parent. Levy can move between Star Wars, Marvel titles and television development without leaving Disney’s orbit. For buyers, the eventual platform and advertising model for those projects is not yet set, but Disney’s ad-supported streaming tiers are one likely beneficiary of any broad-audience series.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
