Disney is set to lose one of its SVPs of Original Content in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Deadline has revealed that Liam Keelan will leave his role in early 2025. 

During his five years at Disney, he has helped build up the Europe and Africa programming original team from scratch, which has resulted in over 70 different originals being created, including “Extraordinary”, “Renegade Nell”, “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld” and the upcoming series, “Rivals”,

Initially, the EMEA team had an initial target of 50 new originals by 2024, which it was able to do. However, while Disney is still committed to spending over a billion dollars a year on content created in Europe, it has been scaling back its output of general entertainment to save money.

Disney is now already looking for a replacement, who will report to Diego Londono, who is Disney’s EVP of Media Networks and Content.  Diego also released a statement regarding the news:

“Since 2020, Liam has brought an incredible creativity and commitment in delivering a wide-ranging local originals slate across EMEA.  I am so proud of the shows Liam has steered, but also of the team he’s built. 

We’ve constantly evolved to bring our Disney+ customers great local titles, from award winning titles such as Extraordinary, The Ignorant Angels and The Good Mothers to local hits such as Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, Lions of Sicily and Our Only Chance, and not to forget an amazing line up of upcoming titles such as Rivals, The Disappearance of Kimi Diore, A Thousand Blows and Vienna Game. This is all thanks to Liam’s leadership and decision making. I wish him all the best in his next endeavor.”

Liam Keelan, who has previously worked at the BBC and Sky, also added:

“It’s been an absolute blast running the Disney+ Originals team.  I’ll forever be grateful to Diego Londono and [Disney EMEA President] Jan Koeppen for backing me every step of the way as we launched our first raft of commissions and set about changing expectations of what a Disney+ show might be.

Starting from scratch almost five years ago, I’m so proud of the range, quality and awards our shows have brought to Disney+. Any success is testament to the brilliant teams we have here in the UK and across the European markets – their passion and creativity has been truly inspiring.

It’s never an easy decision to leave when there’s so much more to come but channeling Declan O’Hara it’s time for a change and I’ve no doubt Disney+ and the originals slate will be hugely successful in the months and years to come.”

Roger’s Take:  The initial launch period of Disney+ probably hasn’t been the most straightforward project to work on, and no doubt he had many challenges, especially during the pandemic and the massive slowdown in production globally.  Finding original programming that suits the tastes of locals and also hit on a global audience can’t be easy. 

What do you think of this change?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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