Daniel Brett Weiss (; born April 23, 1971) is an American screenwriter and television producer. Along with his collaborator

David Benioff David Friedman (; born September 25, 1970), known professionally as David Benioff (), is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer. Along with his collaborator D. B. Weiss, he is best known for co-creating ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–201 ...

, he is best-known for co-creating ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'' (2011–2019), the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

adaptation of

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948) also known by the initials G.R.R.M. is an American author, television writer, and television producer. He is best known as the author of the unfinished series of Hi ...

's series of books, ''

A Song of Ice and Fire ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' is a series of high fantasy novels by the American author George R. R. Martin. Martin began writing the first volume, ''A Game of Thrones'', in 1991, and published it in 1996. Martin, who originally envisioned the ser ...

''. He also wrote and produced the 2022 American teen

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

'' Metal Lords.

Early life

Weiss was born and raised in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. His family is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, with ancestral roots in Germany. He graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

. He earned a

Master of Philosophy A Master of Philosophy (MPhil or PhM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. The name of the degree is most often abbreviated MPhil (or, at times, as PhM in other countries). MPhil are awarded to postgraduate students after completing at leas ...

in Irish literature from

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he wrote his thesis, "Understanding the (Net) Wake." It explores

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

's novel ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...

''. Weiss later earned a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in creative writing from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

Career

Weiss worked as personal assistant on films such as '' The Viking Sagas'' for

New Line Cinema New Line Productions, Inc., Trade name, doing business as New Line Cinema, is an American film production, film and television production company that is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, a division of the Major film studios, ...

. For a brief period, he also worked as a personal assistant for musician

Glenn Frey Glenn Lewis Frey (; November 6, 1948 – January 18, 2016) was an American musician. He was a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he was the co-lead singer and frontman, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with ...

. When Weiss went to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1995 to study Anglo-Irish literature, he met

, the screenwriter of ''

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

''. Three years later, around 1998, they met again after his return to the US in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Weiss and Benioff co-wrote a screenplay for a film titled ''The Headmaster'', but it was never made. In 2003, they were hired to collaborate on a new script based on

Orson Scott Card Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. , he is the only person to have won a Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo Award and a Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award in List of joint ...

's book ''

Ender's Game ''Ender's Game'' is a 1985 military science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. Set at an unspecified date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two conflicts with an insectoid alien species they ...

'', in consultation with the then-designated director

Wolfgang Petersen Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. His international breakthrough was the 1981 war film (1981), which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Directo ...

. It was not used. Weiss's 2003 debut novel, '' Lucky Wander Boy'', is themed around video games. In 2006, he said he had written a second novel that "needs a second draft". The same year, Weiss completed a screenplay for a film adaptation of the video game series ''

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

'', based on a script by

Alex Garland Alexander Medawar Garland (born 26 May 1970) is an English author, screenwriter, and director. He rose to prominence with his novel '' The Beach'' (1996). He received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films '' 28 Days Later'' (2002) and '' Sun ...

. Director

Neill Blomkamp Neill Blomkamp (; born 17 September 1979) is a South African and Canadian film director and screenwriter. He is known as the co-writer and director of the science fiction action film ''District 9'' (2009), for which he was nominated for the Aca ...

declared the project dead in late 2007. Weiss also worked on a script for a prequel to '' I Am Legend,'' but in May 2011, director

Francis Lawrence Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thriller ''Constantine ...

said that he did not think the prequel would ever happen. Weiss collaborated with Benioff on the HBO television series ''

'', based on George R. R. Martin's book series ''A Song of Ice and Fire''. Benioff and Weiss also directed three episodes together. For the first two, they flipped a coin to decide who would get the credit on the show. Weiss received directing credit for " Two Swords", Season 4 episode 1, while Benioff was credited for " Walk of Punishment", Season 3 episode 3. Benioff and Weiss were both credited for co-directing the series finale, " The Iron Throne". On July 19, 2017, Weiss announced that he and Benioff were going to begin production on another HBO series, '' Confederate'', after the final season of ''Game of Thrones''. Weiss and Benioff said, "We have discussed ''Confederate'' for years, originally as a concept for a feature film, but our experience on ''Thrones'' has convinced us that no one provides a bigger, better storytelling canvas than HBO." In January 2020, HBO President Casey Bloys confirmed that the project had been officially canceled. On February 6, 2018,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

announced that Weiss and Benioff would write and produce a new series of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' films after the last season of ''Game of Thrones'' ended in 2019. Toward the end of the last season, a petition to

was started on Change.org. It described showrunners Benioff and Weiss as "woefully incompetent writers" and demanded "competent writers" to remake the eighth season of ''Game of Thrones'' in a manner "that makes sense". The petition eventually amassed over 1.5 million signatures. In the ''

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'',

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...

wrote that the backlash to the eighth season was so great that he doubted he had "ever seen the level of fan (and to a lesser degree, critical) vitriol leveled at" ''Game of Thrones''. In early 2019, Weiss and Benioff entered into an exclusive $200 million deal with

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

to produce several films and television shows exclusively for it. In late October 2019, it was reported that Weiss and Benioff had exited their deal with Disney due to their commitments to Netflix. Weiss and Benioff's first project on Netflix were as directors of Leslie Jones's

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

special ''Time Machine''. In September 2020, it was announced that Weiss, Benioff and Alexander Woo would write and executive produce the Netflix series '' 3 Body Problem'', based on the similarly named Chinese

novel series A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publ ...

Personal life

Weiss and his wife, Andrea Troyer, have two children.

Bibliography

Author

Filmography

Film Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, D.B. 1971 births 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American screenwriters Alumni of Trinity College Dublin American male novelists American male screenwriters American male television writers American people of German-Jewish descent American showrunners American television directors Film producers from Illinois Highland Park High School (Illinois) alumni Hugo Award–winning writers Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Jewish American novelists Jewish American screenwriters Jewish American television writers Jews from Illinois Living people Novelists from Chicago Primetime Emmy Award winners Screenwriters from Chicago Television writers from Illinois Television producers from Illinois American television show creators Wesleyan University alumni