A Chat With Disney’s TV President on Vertical Video, AI Plans and a Potential ‘Tell Me Lies’ Spinoff

Craig Erwich, the president of Disney Television Group, serves many platforms. Soon, he’ll serve a new master in Josh D’Amaro, the latest board-selected CEO to succeed Bob Iger. Even during this period of great change at Disney, which also includes technology shifts toward vertical video and gen-AI, the ins and outs of running Hulu and ABC won’t change much for Erwich.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Erwich discussed those modern-day transformations within a company that celebrated its 100th birthday more than two years ago. There was also much to celebrate, and we talked about those things too. Hulu’s Tell Me Lies just finished its massive breakout third and final season, reaching its largest-ever audience with its series finale. Mere days ago, the last-ever episode reached 3.5 million viewers in its first day on Disney+ and Hulu, according to internal Disney data, an increase of 70 percent from the season three premiere.

With a surge like that, more Tell Me Lies would be a no-brainer. Erwich told THR that there have been some discussions of a spinoff series with creator Meaghan Oppenheimer, who has an overall deal at 20th Television, but first they’re doing “a completely new series” together about “family dynamics.”

“We’re excited work with Meaghan again,” Erwich said. “I think she’s incredibly talented at telling stories about complicated relationships.”

There was more new business to announce as well, like Bluey creator Joe Brumm’s first foray into adult animation with a Hulu adaptation of the TikTok and Instagram shorts Deano. A new Zombies movie is being readied for summer 2027, Erwich confirmed, and there will be no rest for the undead: Erwich told THR that a new “Worlds Collide” concert tour with The Descendants and Zombies casts is readying, and this time, the Camp Rock (3) rockers are hitting the road with the other franchises’ stars.

Read THR‘s wide-ranging Q&A with Erwich below.

***

Let’s start at the literal top, the CEO change. You know Dana Walden well, but what is your working relationship with Josh D’Amaro like? How do you expect your job to change under the new regime?

I think we’re just incredibly lucky to have two, I mean, truly exceptional leaders in Josh and Dana. Both of them are just massive supporters of the talent and the power of great storytelling and creativity. And I think they both know that that’s what drives the entire company. So, I think everyone’s in a really good place. We had a great town hall couple weeks ago where it just felt like the company was in really, really good shape. It was, it was quite an optimistic beat — and it’s kind of continued forward.

Josh comes from Parks, so I don’t know this answer: Is he more of a TV or a movie guy?

I’ve seen him at the Oscars. [Both laugh] We’ll invite him to the Emmys this year. I know that he’s a fan of just great storytelling and creativity — it obviously shows up at the parks.

Tell Me Lies has been a real standout performer and the latest proof-of-concept of YA TV. What are your future plans for the genre?

Well, coming-of-age stories, as we call them — or as we talk about them — is less of an age group of an audience and more of a time of people’s lives that everybody remembers. So there’s just endless fodder for storytelling, whether it’s people going back to relive their youth or experience their lives in a different way. And it’s always obviously a pivotal moment for people, and we’re telling these stories in multiple different ways, with, I would say, honestly, multiple tones. So we have everything from Tell Me Lies, which is about toxic relationships in college, to a new show coming out called Phony, which is really almost Freaks and Geeks with a genre bend to it. You know, you don’t just come of age in high school — you continue to come of age, specifically in that period after college. Then we kind of have the queen or the king as it was of the rom-com, Mindy Kaling, who’s just completed a show for us called Not Suitable for Work, which is really about coming of age in the workplace and navigating that time of your life.

And then we have some really, I would say, classic takes on it. One of our big launches this summer for Disney+ will be Coven Academy, which is a bunch of young girls in a genre setting — but that one is also specifically geared for young audiences in 2026. We designed these episodes to be in 12-episode bursts because we know how people are watching. These things are meant not just on the [TV] screen, but on mobile. It’s got a propulsive beat to it. It’s not just the subject matter, but the form of storytelling, that feels really relevant.

The form has to continue to evolve to be relevant. We just launched Locker Diaries, which is a vertical video series where meet characters of our franchises — The Descendants, Phineas and Ferb — as they roam the halls of high school. This one came to be great because we were talking about vertical video, and it was asked in a meeting, “What else is vertical?” And someone said, “A locker.” And so you have a show told through the point of view of the locker.

The lockers shorts are a really clever way for Disney to do vertical video. Do you see vertical video being a large part of Disney’s streaming future? Or is it a passing fad to be used sparingly?

What we’re about is fandom — it’s really the through line of everything we do. Dana talks about this all the time. A view is a single view, but fans come back multiple times for experiences. So I think vertical video can be a lever towards that, or one thing that can provide a more immersive experience and a deeper fan experience around the show that they love, but that will also complement with things we do, like video podcasts … or concert tours, which we just did around The Descendants and Zombies — that comes out [on Disney+ on) Friday. So we’re really trying to enable the fans to go deep and champion these shows. You have to put a lot of assets towards that, and that’s the strategy that drives — whether it’s a vertical video or podcast or concert tours or social assets.

One of the reasons Josh got the big chair, I imagine, was not just his work with the parks, but the Disney experiences that come to you — concerts, Disney on Ice, cruises, the Dancing With the Stars tour — what a competitive advantage.

I mean, we create really deep experiences beyond a first watch. Again, whether it’s the tour or you go to Disneyland and you see, Spidey and Bluey and Mickey, which, you know, are three of the top five preschool shows that you’re not just watching, but then you’re interacting with it. It’s something that we do, I think, better than anybody. Obviously, it’s an honor to work at Disney. There’s an incredible legacy here, but we really talk a lot about eventizing our legacy, So it was just, for instance, the 20th anniversary of High School Musical. So as appropriate, we really celebrated that with social and media and events for the fans. And you saw the uplift of High School Musical on Disney+ just really spike. It gave a relevancy and a recency to a movie that’s now 20 years old.

It’s the same thing for the Muppets, which we (re-launched) two weeks ago. It’s one of the crown jewels of the Disney company. People have such deep memories and affection for the original franchise as part of their childhood, as something they want to share with their kids. And we really put up a classic version of it that created conversation. It has Sabrina Carpenter, who is among the most original contemporary artists. Suddenly that felt like a moment in 2026 that also was celebrating a moment from when the show first came out.

I think the one we’re really excited about is we have this Hannah Montana special coming up, which is a beloved character and a beloved part of the Disney library that still performs really well on Disney+. We put that trailer out and within 24 hours it had like 127 million views. So you can continue to inject relevancy and recency and, most importantly, an event around these classic shows, because there’s new viewers coming in all the time, or people just want to go back and experience it again.

I like when these stars return to whatever kids show first made them famous because they often spent so much time and energy trying to break away from that image. Is it hard to get “Disney stars” to return to the thing that made them a Disney star?

I know for Hannah Montana, Miley has just such a deep connection to her fans. And I think this anniversary is really meaningful, not just to her, but to that generation. And you know else is a Hannah Montana fan is Alex Cooper, and so Alex Cooper is going to host it.

You have a number of ABC legacy shows in Malcolm in the Middle and Scrubs returning for more than a special, but a season or maybe more. It’s a shortcut to awareness, but risky in terms of the legacy of the original series.

Well, there has to be a reason to do it. It has to be done with a very contemporary nod that honors the original spirit of it.

We went through a similar thing this past summer on King of the Hill, which is a beloved show. And you know when the show came out, I just think the fans were so excited and happy and maybe even relieved that we not just did an honor to what the show was, but we really did a very clever update of it that just felt as relevant as the original one. Greg (Daniels) and Mike (Judge) and Sal (Patterson) really threaded the needle on that. I mean, the reviews were just incredible. The old audience … kind of came back in droves because the show had something to say.

Not just a cash grab.

Yes, yes. No cynicism around these things.

My older daughter would kick me if I didn’t ask what’s next for Zombies and The Descendants.

Well, these what we call, internally, Disney Channel Original Movies around music are something that we do that no other company can do, and that’s a key part of our strategy. The Descendants and Zombies are really kind of the the the true bar. That’s really where the bar is on things. So we have a new Descendants coming out. There will be another Zombies this summer. We’re going to do another tour that will also include Camp Rock, which we’re really excited about because we have the next generation of Camp Rockers coming out this summer in our new Camp Rock. These movies that combine music, they’re incredible way to discover new talent. And they are things the whole family can watch together, you know, is a very important part of our strategy.

Do you see a near-ish future where the number of scripted shows on ABC increases given how much viewing shows like Abbott Elementary and The Rookie drive on Hulu?

One of the things that we’re extraordinarily proud of at Disney is how we’ve been able to master the interplay between ABC and Hulu. We have these two places where people can access one show and we’ve proven over and over again that it aggregates a bigger audience, it doesn’t cannibalize it. So there’s a massive opportunity there that we continue to reap the success of. You take a look at High Potential, which is one of the top shows on television and streaming, and the phenomenon of that is borne out by the relationship between ABC and Hulu and that strategy.

If you kind of look at the ratings between High Potential and a show like (CBS’) Matlock — on linear, they’re somewhat close. It depends on the week. But then when you add in the Hulu part of it — the robust streaming platform that our shows go to — it just laps the competition. And that’s where you see the success of shows like High Potential, Will Trent, Abbott Elementary… Hulu allows us also to build those audiences who are catching up on the show later, and then they come in and can join it live.

What’s happened with The Rookie I think has almost been under reported. This is a show that, in its ninth season is, on an hour’s basis, one of the top rated shows on streaming week in and week out. It’s become this massive phenomenon and fan favorite among teens who are kind of discovering it for themselves. So this ability to bring audiences up to speed on Hulu, it just provides a great opportunity. And ABC is a great launchpad. To the extent that we can do more, we will do more. I’m really excited about RJ Decker, that’s coming out next month. We talked about Scrubs, which I think is the perfect example of a show that’s built for broadcast and streaming, as is Abbott.

Everyone loves Bluey, everyone watches Bluey. It’s a great title to have on Disney+, but it’s not your show. Is it better to have the biggest show via license, or would you consider Spidey & His Amazing Friends, which you own, the greater success for Disney?

I mean, they’re both important. Bluey, which was the number one show on streaming, provides massive engagement for our streaming platform. It provides a show that people kind of check in on a daily basis. We’re really proud to be in business with (Bluey creator) Joe Brumm. As matter of fact, we just greenlit a new show that Joe is executive producing called Deano, which is his take on what will ultimately be an adult animation show. And the circulation of Bluey then allows us to launch other shows, like our new Iron Man show, yeah, or the new preschool version of Avengers. Spidey is obviously the Grand Slam because it’s a show that not only starts to rival Bluey in engagement, but it’s also a show that we can then take people through that character’s journey — everything from preschool to the parks to toys to consumer products. And that’s when you can take a look at the case study of Spidey or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. That’s that Disney flywheel thing they talk about where that is truly what our competitive advantage is in this industry.

I want to go back to Tell Me Lies because it has been your most recent breakout hit. It’s rare for a show to grow this much, this long into its existence. Did you see this success coming with season three?

Well, let me start with— from day one, we loved the show and believed in it. The first episode of season one did not come out of the box gangbusters. It was a slow build. It required word of mouth. I think we understood who the audience was, and we built experiences for them. So we seeded TikTok clips, videos for people to share — that helps spread the word — and, you know, the podcast around the show. I do think one of the things that helped is we cast (Tell Me Lies star) Grace (Van Patten) in The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, which introduced her to a wider audience. And that’s very much, you know, a page from the Disney playbook. You know, (president of Disney Branded Television) Ayo Davis does this in our kids and family efforts.

Malachi Barton, who I’m sure your daughter knows who started in Zombies and is now in Camp Rock 3, he’s been introduced into our tentpole releases and is now in Coven Academy. It’s the same tactics that led Dancing With the Stars to be up year over year — getting (Hulu’s) The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives women on Dancing with the Stars.

[Tell Me Lies] is up 150 percent (in viewers, season three vs. season one), which is pretty unheard of. But also it’s so addictive, which is, I think— at the core of every great original that we do here, it’s not that you just can’t stop watching this show, you cannot stop talking about. And if you can empower the conversation and bring that community of fans together and give them the materials to kind of evangelize on your behalf, but just also to interact with it, it’s pretty special.

One way Disney+ may soon allow fans to interact with their favorite IP is through UGC gen-AI — how do you see the use of AI on Disney+ actually playing out?

Look, our jobs are to protect our creators and our IP. That said, AI, it is a tool that our productions are using and exploring. The key is that any use of it has to be human led. So if you look at Percy Jackson, for instance, Tyson, who was the new character we introduced this year— AI was utilized with Tyson, the cyclops character, but that was a creative decision used in the post production process.

It feels appropriate to end with one more Tell Me Lies question. Given the massive surge in popularity, have there been discussions about a spinoff?

Yes, we’ve definitely discussed what another Tell Me Lies might look like with a new set of characters. Meaghan has some initial notions but she also has an original take on family dynamics that’s a completely new series. We’re excited work with Meaghan again. I think she’s incredibly talented at telling stories about complicated relationships.