John Landgraf opens up about Ryan Murphy’s Possible Return to Disney Fold

John Landgraf, the Chairman of the popular American TV channel FX, recently conducted a virtual executive session for the Television Critics Association summer press tour and spoke about the future ventures of the network going forward. He even talked about how he changed his focus to the FX brand and FX programming and discussed why it was important for FX to continue to grow the FX on Hulu brand. 

John Landgraf on speaking to Ryan Murphy on his return

According to the reports by Variety, Landgraf talked about his presentation and stated how it was focused on the FX brand and FX programming. “I think it’s just factually accurate to say that is where I am focused. For many, many years I have been involved in the distribution process and running linear channels, and there was a major restructuring at the Walt Disney Company, and the running of the linear channels exists elsewhere in the company. I run a brand that markets, commissions, publicizes, programs, and produces original programming. I think that’s one of the reasons you’re seeing my focus change somewhat. I’m going to talk much more specifically from an FX-centric perspective today and moving forward,” he said. 

When asked about whether he had any discussions about Ryan Murphy’s return to Disney, John Landgraf said-

If you ask me ‘Would I like it to happen?’ the answer is yes. If you ask me ‘Could it happen?’ I don’t have the answer to that question. It lies within the free market and it ultimately lies within Ryan Murphy. He gets to decide where he makes his deal and what he does. From where I sit, he’s been extraordinarily productive for Netflix and obviously we have continued to work with him, and we’re thrilled by the work he’s done with us.

He even discussed the importance of FX to grow on the Hulu brand and mentioned how they all could see the focal point of consumption of scripted programming moving towards streaming and added how he thought that scripted programming consumption was rising very rapidly on streaming platforms as it tends to decline on linear channels. He then concluded by saying that this is why it was vitally important for FX to be a major part of that ecosystem that’s growing. 

(IMAGE: AP)