Steven S. DeKnight

Steven S. DeKnight (born October 28, 1965) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is best known for being the creator, head writer, and executive producer of the Starz series Spartacus, including Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Spartacus: Vengeance, and Spartacus: War of the Damned, as well as developing the first season of Marvel's Daredevil and Jupiter's Legacy for Netflix. DeKnight previously worked on Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel. He also wrote "Swell", a story in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic series. He served as a consulting producer on Joss Whedon's television series Dollhouse. In May 2014, DeKnight reportedly took over show running duties for the first season of the Netflix exclusive television series Daredevil from Drew Goddard, after Goddard's departure due to scheduling conflicts with directing Sinister Six. Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez later replaced him to serve as co-showrunners for the series' second season. In 2015, DeKnight joined the Transformers Cinematic Universe franchise's writers room, where Paramount Pictures hired multiple noted screenwriters to flesh out the film series' future. He directed the science fiction sequel Pacific Rim Uprising. The original film's director, Guillermo del Toro, remained on the film as producer. On July 17, 2018, it was announced that DeKnight would be credited as a showrunner and executive producer alongside Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Dan McDermott in the superhero series Jupiter's Legacy. On September 16, 2019, it was confirmed that DeKnight departed the series as a showrunner over creative differences amid the first season's production. On April 15, 2019, DeKnight joined a host of other writers in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA and the practice of packaging. In November 2023, Starz greenlighted the new 10-episode drama series Spartacus: House of Ashur with the return of DeKnight to the franchise, serving as showrunner and executive producer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Steven S. DeKnight, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Works

Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show

“Showrunners” is the first ever feature length documentary film to explore the fascinating world of US television showrunners and the creative forces aligned around them. These are the people responsible for creating, writing and overseeing every element of production on one of the United State’s biggest exports – television drama and comedy series. Often described as the most complex job in the entertainment business, a showrunner is the chief writer / producer on a TV series and, in most instances, the show’s creator. Battling daily between art and commerce, showrunners manage every aspect of a TV show’s development and production: creative, financial and logistical.

Release Date2014-10-17

Charactersd Self

Vote Count48

Smallville

The origins of the world’s greatest hero–from Krypton refugee Kal-el’s arrival on Earth through his tumultuous teen years to Clark Kent’s final steps toward embracing his destiny as the Man of Steel.

Release Date2001-10-16

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count15

Vote Count4219

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.

Release Date1997-03-10

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count5

Vote Count1853

Spartacus

Torn from his homeland and the woman he loves, Spartacus is condemned to the brutal world of the arena where blood and death are primetime entertainment.

Release Date2010-01-22

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count8

Vote Count2669

Marvel's Daredevil

Lawyer-by-day Matt Murdock uses his heightened senses from being blinded as a young boy to fight crime at night on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen as Daredevil.

Release Date2015-04-10

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count13

Vote Count4815

Angel

The vampire Angel, cursed with a soul, moves to Los Angeles and aids people with supernatural-related problems while questing for his own redemption. A spin-off from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Release Date1999-10-05

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count12

Vote Count943

Dollhouse

Echo is a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals whose personalities have been wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined between missions to a secret facility known as the Dollhouse, the "Actives" are hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected to wholly become—with mind, personality and physiology—whomever the client wants or needs them to be. They know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time—or do they?

Release Date2009-02-13

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count1

Vote Count461

Jupiter's Legacy

As the world's first generation of superheroes (who received their powers in the 1930s) become the revered elder guard in the present, their superpowered children struggle to live up to the legendary feats of their parents.

Release Date2021-05-07

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count8

Vote Count719

Pacific Rim: Uprising

It has been ten years since The Battle of the Breach and the oceans are still, but restless. Vindicated by the victory at the Breach, the Jaeger program has evolved into the most powerful global defense force in human history. The PPDC now calls upon the best and brightest to rise up and become the next generation of heroes when the Kaiju threat returns.

Release Date2018-03-21

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count5099

Spartacus: Blood and Sand - The Motion Comic

The story of legendary hero Spartacus comes alive through a motion comic and companion piece for the TV series.

Release Date2009-12-29

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count1

Vote Count5

Undressed

A peek behind closed doors at the intricacies of modern relationships. Each episode features three different fictional stories and follows various characters to see what happened during their most intimate moments. No subject is too taboo. All the stories have one very important thing in common, though: someone inevitably gets undressed.

Release Date1999-07-26

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count45

Vote Count11

Spartacus: House of Ashur

This next chapter in the "Spartacus" franchise poses the question: what if Ashur, hadn't died on Mount Vesuvius at the end of "Spartacus: Vengeance?" And what if he had been gifted the gladiator school once owned by Batiatus in return for aiding the Romans in killing Spartacus and putting an end to the slave rebellion?

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer

Episode Count1

Spartacus Gods of the Arena

Before Spartacus struck down his first opponent in the arena, there were many gladiators who passed through the gates onto the sand.'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' tells the story of the original Champion of the House of Batiatus: Gannicus, in a more ruthless time before Spartacus' arrival where honor was just finding its way into the arena.

Release Date2011-01-21

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator