'Bad Times At The El Royale' Director Drew Goddard Signs Deal With Disney-Owned 20th Century Fox TV

Drew Goddard, the director of films like The Cabin in the Woods and Bad Times at the El Royale, is one of the sharpest minds working in entertainment right now. So it's no surprise that he's just signed a new four-year deal to "write, create, direct and develop new projects" for 20th Century Fox TV. Learn more about the Drew Goddard deal below.

The ink is just barely dry on the Disney/Fox contracts since that acquisition just became 100% official in the early hours of yesterday morning, but it didn't take long for 20th Century Fox TV, now fully owned and operated by Disney, to sign Goddard (pictured, left) to a lucrative eight-figure deal. The Hollywood Reporter has a quote from Dana Walden, formerly the CEO of the Fox Television Group and now the new Disney TV Studios and ABC Entertainment chairman:

"We have wanted to be in business with Drew since the day his work on our series Angel was over. That was in 2004. Having a new deal with him after all this time makes me unspeakably happy. As a writer and director, he's a 10; as a collaborator and magnet for other incredible writers, directors and actors, he is off the charts. Our goal is to support Drew as he builds his own spectacular production company inside of the Disney Television Studios."

According to THR, Disney Television Studios is a new TV unit that combines ABC Studios, ABC Signature, 20th Century Fox TV, and Fox 21 Studios. Their article specifically says Goddard has signed his deal with 20th Century Fox TV, but also that he'll be developing projects "for all platforms." I wonder if that includes Disney+, and if so, if he could be involved with any of the Marvel properties that are in the works over there. (I think he'd be a great fit for their What If? show.) Goddard has plenty of comic book experience, co-creating both Daredevil and The Defenders for Marvel and Netflix.

Goddard has had his hands in tons of other geek-friendly properties over the years. He got his start writing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel before moving on to Bad Robot and writing for both Alias and Lost. He wrote the screenplay for the first Cloverfield, Ridley Scott's The Martian, and helped to save World War Z. He co-wrote the script for the brilliant horror comedy The Cabin in the Woods with Joss Whedon and made his feature directorial debut with that movie, and then wrote and directed last year's stylish period crime thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. And on top of that, he directed the pilot for and executive produces NBC's hilarious comedy The Good Place.

Disney's acquisition of Fox seemed to spell the end of Goddard's planned X-Force movie that would have included the return of Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, but maybe now there's a chance that he could rework that film into a television show under this new deal? That's pure speculation, of course, and whether it's X-Force or something totally different, we're thrilled to see what Goddard does next.