Netflix Film Chief Dan Lin Out, Days After 1,000 Layoffs and Content Chief's Exit

Since Netflix announced last week that it was cutting about 1,000 jobs and replacing Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria with Peter Rice, the shake-up has now reached the film division. Dan Lin, who has run Netflix's movie business since 2024, is out.

Netflix confirmed the departure in a statement today, Oct. 19, and said Rice will oversee film until a new head is named. Variety reported, citing two sources, that Lin was told at the start of the weekend and was due to address his teams Monday.

What Netflix and Lin said

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos praised Lin in the company statement. "I started working with Dan well before he joined us in 2024 and his strength as a producer was always clear," Sarandos said. He credited Lin's "dedication to quality filmmaking, rigor around dealmaking and strategy, and collaborative spirit."

Lin thanked Sarandos, co-CEO Greg Peters and Bajaria. "It's been a great privilege to lead this incredible team and work with amazing filmmakers and talent to bring their movies to the world," he said.

Netflix has not said who will take the job permanently. Variety reported that an announcement is expected in the coming days. Former Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy have been widely speculated as candidates, but Netflix has not commented on that.

The week that led here

The layoffs, about 6% of global headcount, are Netflix's largest since 2022, when the company lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. Staff in tech, legal, product and human resources were told they would be affected.

Bajaria's removal capped the cuts. Before Lin's exit, layoffs also hit his deputy Doug Belgrad and the film group's indie head, Sheroum Kim, according to Variety.

Lin came from the producer side, where his Rideback company built the Lego movie franchise, the Stephen King "It" films and the "Sherlock Holmes" movies. He replaced Scott Stuber, whose tenure leaned on big-budget output. Lin's mandate was fewer, better and cheaper movies. He cut big upfront paychecks to actors and reorganized the department.

The record

Lin's slate was mixed. It included the Oscar-winning animated hit "KPop Demon Hunters," along with "Happy Gilmore 2," "Frankenstein" and "The Rip." It also included costly misfires such as "The Electric State."

In a June interview with The New York Times, Lin said he had greenlit or acquired 88 movies for Netflix. He listed "Apex," "Emilia Perez," "Here Comes the Flood" and "The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth" among the standouts.

The Cliff Booth film, directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, is one of two big theatrical releases coming. The other is Greta Gerwig's "Narnia: The Magician's Nephew." Both were developed under Lin. Social media accounts claim Narnia has been canceled, but Netflix has not said anything of the kind.

The numbers behind the shake-up

Hours watched on Netflix rose only 2% in the first half of 2026 versus a year earlier, according to the company. That came even though Netflix raised its content budget 11% to $20 billion.

Netflix stock is down about 40% from a year ago. It closed today at $69.85, down 1%.

The company remains profitable and still leads subscription streaming. Analysts quoted by the Los Angeles Times say Netflix has not produced enough hits and are skeptical of its plan to grow its subscriber base. The company also faces free, ad-supported rivals led by YouTube, and social video.

The backdrop includes the failed Warner Bros. bid. Paramount Skydance outbid Netflix for Warner Bros. Discovery in February.

Counterpoint: a defense of the old strategy

The argument for Lin's results comes from his own side and from Sarandos, who says Lin's rigor around dealmaking and strategy elevated the film business. Lin's cost discipline was the assignment he was given when he replaced Stuber. Whether the engagement slowdown traces to film or to the wider streaming market is a question no one at Netflix has answered publicly.

Critics, including conservative commentator John Nolte at Breitbart, argue the opposite: that Lin cut costs but failed to deliver good mid-budget movies. Nolte writes that Netflix "remains a half-trillion-dollar pile of below-average content." That is his judgment, not a finding.

What comes next

Netflix reports third-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday, Oct. 20. Investors will get the first look at the numbers since the layoffs and the removal of two top content executives. The company will also face questions about who is running film, with Rice covering the division and no successor named.

The next concrete marker is that hire, which Variety says is expected within days.