Dan Lin is out as head of Netflix’s film division after almost three years, let go at the start of last weekend and scheduled to address his staff on Monday, October 19. The firing follows a week in which Netflix cut roughly 1,000 jobs, about 6 percent of its global workforce, and pushed out chief content officer Bela Bajaria. Lin’s second in command, Doug Belgrad, and indie film head Sheroum Kim were among those laid off before him.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement: “I started working with Dan well before he joined us in 2024 and his strength as a producer was always clear. Once he joined Netflix, I saw up close how his dedication to quality filmmaking, rigor around dealmaking and strategy, and collaborative spirit elevated our film business. I’m grateful to Dan for everything he’s done for Netflix films.”
No successor has been named. Peter Rice, who replaces Bajaria as chief content officer, officially starts October 26. One report says a film chief will not be named until Rice arrives, while another expects an announcement within days.
The Reported Clashes With Netflix’s Biggest Names
The firing caps weeks of reports that Lin’s relationships with Netflix’s marquee filmmakers had frayed, and the first to surface was David Fincher. Fincher reportedly wanted major, costly reshoots on The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, a film reported to cost more than $200 million, and Netflix approved only a few days of additional photography. One source said the director “had had enough with Lin’s budgetary shackles.” Fincher did not renew his exclusive four-year Netflix deal in late September, and Cliff Booth is expected to be the last film of it. The deal produced Mank in 2020 and The Killer in 2023, both under Lin’s predecessor Scott Stuber.
Greta Gerwig is the second name. Reports say she and Lin had friction over Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, which carries a reported $280 million budget. Lin reportedly gave heavy notes on early cuts and suggested he could fix the film in post-production. Her agent, Bryan Lourd, reportedly took her concerns to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and a buffer now sits between Gerwig and Lin. The dissatisfaction with early cuts is unconfirmed.
Ben Affleck is the third. Reports say Affleck was unhappy with Lin and that the two had a strained relationship, and Lin was absent from the premiere of Affleck’s Netflix thriller Animals, where chief content officer Bela Bajaria handled the introductions. Affleck’s representatives pushed back and described his partnership with Netflix as supportive.
One source close to the situation said relationships with filmmakers were fraying during Lin’s tenure, though another report said there was never any bad blood between Fincher and Lin.
What He Leaves Behind
The failures attached to Lin’s name so far are mostly broken relationships, because the reports name no single bomb from his slate. Lin told an interviewer in June that he had greenlit or acquired 88 movies, and he pointed to Apex, Emilia Pérez, Here Comes the Flood and The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth as the standouts. The last of those is the film that cost him Fincher.
The viewing numbers Netflix has published for his releases are respectable:
None of them reached the 325.1 million views of KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix’s most viewed film ever, and that one was greenlit under Stuber. One trade report said there was no consistent reseeding of the streamer’s Top 10 list the way there was in the Stuber years. An anonymous talent agent said Lin shared his predecessor’s problem with quality.
The cuts were deep. Netflix’s original film output was reportedly reduced by more than half under Lin, and he steered away from the $200 million-plus, non-theatrical spectacles such as Red Notice, The Irishman and The Electric State that marked the earlier era. Still, engagement grew only 2 percent in the first half of 2026, and Netflix shares were trading near $69.76 on Monday against a 52-week high of $124.86.
Lin also drew criticism for his stance on theaters. He said in a June interview that Netflix will not work with filmmakers who insist on a theatrical-first release. Earlier this year, when asked about the future of theatrical, he said “Give us time.”
Who Dan Lin Is
Dan Lin came to Netflix in April 2024 from Rideback, the production company he built, to replace longtime film chief Scott Stuber. Rideback is best known for the Lego animated film franchise, Stephen King’s It adaptations and the Sherlock Holmes movies, and the films Lin produced from 2008 to 2024 earned about $6 billion at the global box office.
Netflix hired him to make fewer movies at lower cost. Reports describe a reorganization of the film division by genre with a push toward comedies, romantic comedies and book adaptations, and a hard line on spending after the era of Red Notice, The Irishman and The Electric State. Rideback still has a production deal with Netflix, but Lin is not expected to return to the label.
A Shake-Up Around a Slumping Stock
Lin’s exit lands in the middle of a wider reshuffle. Netflix lost its bid for Warner Bros., which has since merged with Paramount Skydance, and Sarandos has conceded to a 45-day exclusive theatrical window before films reach streaming. Netflix is now reporting box office grosses for select titles, including next year’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, and Wall Street is bracing for a weak quarter.
The names floated for Lin’s job are Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, the former Warner Bros. film heads who were passed over for top jobs at the merged company. Reports say they would want a firm commitment to theatrical first. They greenlit The Bride! and Digger at Warner Bros., two of this year’s biggest box-office bombs, with Digger reportedly heading toward a deficit of more than $245 million. One report credits Lin with sparing Netflix from both. A company-wide town hall is set for Wednesday.
Who Set the Mandate?
Lin did what Netflix asked by cutting output and spending, and according to the reports above, that approach cost the streamer David Fincher and strained its ties with Greta Gerwig and Ben Affleck. If the next film chief is hired to spend more on those same directors, what was the last two and a half years for?
What in the actual F are they spending hundreds of millions on? This guy was trying to rein in budgets already over 200 million and to restrain Gerwig from running roughshod over Narnia. Narnia's trailer come out, everyone hates it. Netflix insiders hate it. Test audience's hate it.
And they fire the one guy who tried to tell her "no" because she whined and cried to his boss?
Netflix, you deserve every bit of of failure that is heading your way, slow and obvious as a steam locomotive that just blew its whistle and is only starting to roll, but you're too stupid to step off the tracks.