Jonathan Tropper Extends Apple Deal; ‘Your Friends & Neighbors’ Record

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ has renewed its exclusive overall deal with Jonathan Tropper, who has emerged as the streamer’s most prolific writer-creator across both TV and film with two on-air series, Your Friends and Neighbors and the upcoming Lucky, and two movies, The Corsair Code and Matchbox.

This is the third consecutive overall deal at Apple TV+ for Tropper who was originally signed by the platform in conjunction with his role as executive producer and showrunner on one of its first original series, the 2019 drama See starring Jason Momoa.

The multi-year deal extension comes as Tropper’s Your Friends and Neighbors, starring Jon Hamm, has become the most watched new Apple drama series per Nielsen sampling data of viewers watching at least one minute of the show over the first 38 days. The series, whose Season 1 finale drops tomorrow, May 30, is on pace to crack the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 later this month, according to preliminary data. (Nielsen’s figures reflect weekly viewing done about a month prior.)

Confident in Your Friends and Neighbors‘ breakout potential, Apple TV+ renewed the drama in November, months ahead of its debut. Season 2 is currently filming.

In addition to creating and executive producing Your Friends and Neighbors, Tropper also is creator/executive producer on Apple TV+’s upcoming limited series Lucky, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, which is based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel.

“Working with the entire team at Apple continues to be the single most creatively fulfilling collaboration of my career, and I’m looking forward to bringing Lucky and other new projects to the platform, while making more seasons of Your Friends & Neighbors,” Tropper said.

On the film side, Tropper is writing and producing Apple’s upcoming sci-fi mystery adventure The Corsair Code based on his short story, which stars Chris Hemsworth, and is co-writing the action-adventure comedy Matchbox based on the toy brand, which stars John Cena, Jessica Biel and Sam Richardson.

“From the moment we heard Jonathan Tropper’s brilliantly entertaining and witty pitch for Your Friends and Neighbors we were enthralled, and it has been so rewarding to watch as global audiences have become addicted to the series in record numbers,” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming, Apple TV+. “To witness the charismatic Jon Hamm and the rest of this ensemble cast bring these beautifully crafted characters to life in a show that is both wildly enjoyable and deeply resonant has been an absolute pleasure.”

Tropper is developing and producing all projects under the Apple deal through his Tropper Ink banner.

“Ever since the groundbreaking See, it has been a thrill to collaborate with Jonathan and we couldn’t be happier to continue this partnership with so many fantastic projects coming soon to Apple TV+,” Cherniss added.

Before his tenure at Apple TV+, Tropper co-created Cinemax’s cult favorite Banshee and created Cinemax/Max’s Warrior based on a treatment by Bruce Lee.