EXCLUSIVE: Legendary Television’s Robert Atwood has joined Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment as Head of Television. Filling a role that has been vacant for about two years, he will help shepherd 21 Laps’ TV slate under the overall deal at Netflix where the company has been based for nearly a decade.
Atwood comes to 21 Laps from Legendary Television, where he spent six years, most recently as EVP Scripted Series, developing new projects and overseeing the indie studio’s current series and animation slate.
During his tenure, he spearheaded Legendary’s Monarch, which launched as AppleTV+’s highest-rated first season of an ongoing series at the time, with multiple spinoffs in the Godzilla/Kong Monsterverse currently in development. He also worked on the Dune: Prophecy series for HBO, a prequel to Legendary’s tentpole movie franchise.
Atwood started his career in casting on Will & Grace and The New Adventures of Old Christine before transitioning to talent management and then joining Brillstein Entertainment Partners’ production arm. He also served as Director of Development and Talent for TV Land and as VP of TV development for Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters’ Fazekas & Butters banner.
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“I know I speak for all of us 21 Lapsters when I say how excited I am to have Robert join our team,” said Levy, founder of 21 Laps. “With an extensive track record of smart and commercial programming, Robert brings the taste, work ethic and populist storytelling instincts that are the lifeblood of the 21 Laps culture. His experience and creative rigor will be hugely additive to our company as we continue to create well-crafted shows across a range of tones and genres, for audiences as varied as the stories we tell.”
21 Laps is behind Netflix’s mega hit series Stranger Things, which is headed into its fifth and final season before spawning potential spinoff series. The franchise’s stage production, Stranger Things: First Shadow, will open on Broadway on April 22 after a successful launch in London’s West End. The company’s Netflix series credits also include limited series The Perfect Couple and All the Light We Cannot See as well as Unsolved Mysteries, Shadow and Bone and I Am Not OK with This.
“I couldn’t be more excited to join Shawn, Dan and the amazing team at 21 Laps,” Atwood said. “They have achieved a tremendous amount of success with our partners at Netflix and I look forward to helping them continue to create great television and grow the company.”