As of Thursday 13th July, SAG-AFTRA have officially joined WGA on the picket lines. This affects any US or International productions with SAG-AFTRA members.
Some big-budget productions currently halted by the strike include Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part 2, Deadpool 3, the live action Lilo & Stitch remake, and the Jason Momoa-led Minecraft film adaptation.
Several TV shows filming in Ireland and starring Irish actors had already been affected by the WGA strike, such as Amazon’s Blade Runner 2099 series which had started production in Belfast shortly before the writers’ strike. SAG-AFTRA going on strike has added to the number of productions on pause, with some exceptions.
In some instances, productions have managed to wrap before the strike. Both Mary & George starring Julianne Moore and Niamh Algar, and The Rings of Power season 2 starring Ciarán Hinds both wrapped before SAG-AFTRA members went on strike. Ronan Bennett’s upcoming series Day of the Jackal can continue filming as it is contracted under UK union Equity, not SAG-AFTRA.
Screen has confirmed that Gladiator 2, starring Paul Mescal, has been put on pause until the strike ends. Originally slated for November 22nd, 2024, the film’s release may be delayed by the production’s disruption. Before the strike, the Malta-based production had finished filming in Morocco and was “about two-thirds of the way done with shooting”, according to Variety.
Upcoming thriller Anniversary starring IFTA-nominee Daryl McCormack, Oscar winner Diane Lane, and Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor was set to film in Dublin and Wicklow throughout July and August, but has since been postponed.
Andor, which stars Genivieve O’Reilly and Denise Gough, had continued filming without the involvement of showrunner Tony Gilroy following the WGA strike as the scripts had been completed by then, however it is being reported that production has now paused due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Sharon Horgan has paused her American projects, but is continuing to write season two of Bad Sisters. It remains to be seen whether or not the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike will affect the filming of the upcoming season.
As previously reported by IFTN, the SAG-AFTRA strike also affects film premieres, as members of the guild cannot attend red carpet interviews, electronic press junkets, or other interviews. Cillian Murphy and his Oppenheimer co-stars Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, and Matt Damon left the premiere of the latest Christopher Nolan early in solidarity with the strike.
“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” announced Nolan after the film ended. “Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the unions, and we support them.”
