Amazon Shake-up Continues: Vernon Sanders Out After Salke Exit, Rings Of Power Bust

Vernon Sanders has left his position as Head of Global Television at Amazon MGM Studios, after Jennifer Salke was recently removed from her leadership role.

Sanders previously worked with Salke at NBC, and she later hired him at Amazon. His departure marks the end of the leadership team she built.

Sources say Sanders will remain in his position for a few weeks to assist with the handover, but a new leader hasn’t been announced yet. Peter Friedlander, a former executive at Netflix, is rumored to be a potential candidate for the job.

Fallout From Rings of Power

Sanders was in charge of expensive and prominent projects, including *The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power*. However, the show received significant criticism from fans and experienced a substantial drop in viewership.

Despite being in production for its second season, the show-which cost over a billion dollars to make-isn’t performing as well as Amazon originally expected.

Deadline reported when announcing Salke’s departure that *The Rings of Power* hadn’t delivered enough impact to justify its high production costs during her (and Sanders’) leadership.

The dismissal of Salke is also connected to issues with the James Bond franchise at Amazon, and the company is now proceeding with different leaders in charge.

Wheel of Time and Citadel Spinoffs Canceled

The Wheel of Time has also been canceled following the conclusion of its third season.

Amazon has cancelled all planned spinoffs of its costly sci-fi series, *Citadel*. The show, originally intended to be a major global franchise created by the Russo Brothers, comes as the brothers have gone back to working on Marvel projects.

Studio Restructuring Continues

The exit of Amazon MGM Studios executive Charlie Sanders is happening as part of a broader shake-up led by studio head Mike Hopkins. Even though Sanders recently gained more responsibilities, including oversight of MGM’s reality TV division, rumors suggested Hopkins was already looking for new leaders. It now seems he’s decided to completely revamp the studio’s leadership team.

In a goodbye message, Sanders explained he was leaving his position to focus again on the hands-on work of creating TV shows.

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2025-09-18 17:31