Vinyl Showrunner, Co-Creator Terence Winter Exits Series

HBO’s over-the-top rock drama Vinyl, still in its first season, has parted with its showrunner and co-creator. Terence Winter, who was also an executive producer on the series, has been let go by the network as a result of—what else?—creative differences.

Winter co-created Vinyl with Mick Jagger, Martin Scorsese and Rich Cohen. Replacing him at the helm will be Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum), now the series’ showrunner and executive producer. Max Borenstein (Godzilla) was also named an executive producer.

Here is HBO’s official word on the shake-up:

As we head into the second season of Vinyl, we have decided it is an appropriate time to make a change in the creative direction of the show. We have enjoyed a longtime partnership with Terry Winter at HBO on projects from The Sopranos to Boardwalk Empire to Vinyl, and we look forward to our next collaboration with him. We are pleased to welcome Scott Z. Burns, executive producer and showrunner, and Max Borenstein, executive producer, as the new team helming the show.
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As the statement notes, Winter’s long and fruitful history with HBO is what makes this move such a surprise. Winter was not only a writer and executive producer on one of the network’s finest series in The Sopranos, but he was also the creator and showrunner for Boardwalk Empire, which he worked on with Vinyl executive producer Scorsese. The two collaborated on The Wolf of Wall Street—Winter received an Oscar nomination for writing the film’s screenplay.

Vinyl, which has consistently served up the ridiculousness in its 10-episode first season, concludes on April 17 with a Winter-scripted finale.