Howard Gordon (born March 31, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer.
He is well known for his work on the
Fox action series ''
24'' alongside the
Showtime thriller ''
Homeland'', which he co-developed with
Alex Gansa and
Gideon Raff, and for the
FX political drama ''
Tyrant'', which he co-developed with
Craig Wright. He also produced the
NBC science fiction thriller ''
Awake''.
Life and career
Gordon was born to a
Reform Jewish family in
Queens, New York City and graduated from
Roslyn High School. After graduating from
Princeton with a major in creative writing in 1984, Gordon came to Los Angeles with fellow filmmaker
Alex Gansa to pursue a career in writing for television. Both broke into the industry with single episodes of
ABC's ''
Spenser: For Hire''. Their ''Spenser'' work turned industry heads, and the pair joined the series ''
Beauty and the Beast'' as staff writers, and were later named
producers.
In 1990, the Gansa-Gordon team was signed to a two-year deal with Witt-Thomas Productions, during which they produced several pilots. One was an ABC project called ''Country Estates'', which caught the attention of producer
Chris Carter.
Soon after, Carter invited Gordon and Gansa to join ''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...
'' as supervising producers; Gordon wrote or co-wrote several scripts each season, before departing from the series in 1997 to pursue other projects.
After co-writing one episode of ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Gordon created his own show, the short-lived ''
Strange World'' in 1999. ''Strange World'' went to seed 13 episodes in, but Gordon and ''Strange World'' writer
Tim Minear's services were quickly snapped up by ''Buffy'' creator
Joss Whedon on another project: ''
Angel
An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...
''. After two years with ''Angel'', Gordon jumped ship in 2001 for
FOX's successful ''
24'', where he would write several episodes in Seasons 1 & 2, then crafted the entire story arcs for Seasons 3 and 4. Gordon temporarily left ''24'' in the middle of the 2004 season to re-join Minear, this time as co-creator of another FOX series, ''
The Inside''. Despite ''The Inside''s cancellation and short run, talk circulated of including the two Minear-Gordon series, ''Strange World'' and ''The Inside'', on a special DVD set sometime in 2006.
Beginning in 2006, Gordon became ''24s
showrunner, a title he held through its
final season. The successful deal led up with his continuing deal at Fox. That same year, he was made partner with ''24'' creators
Joel Surnow and
Robert Cochran at Real Time Productions to develop projects, until the duo quit in 2008. In 2019, after a stint at Fox through Teakwood Lane Productions, he signed a deal with Sony.
Gordon is also the author of the Gideon Davis novels.
''Homeland''
In 2010, after finishing ''24'', Gordon began co-developing (along with
Gideon Raff and
Alex Gansa) the
thriller ''
Homeland'' for
Showtime. Based on the Israeli series ''Prisoners of War'', it centers on a woman (
Claire Danes
Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. Prolific in film and television since her teens, she is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2012, ''Time (magazine), Time'' named he ...
) who works for the CIA and is convinced a recently returned American prisoner of war (
Damian Lewis) has been turned by
al-Qaeda
, image = Flag of Jihad.svg
, caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions
, founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden
, leaders = {{Plainlist,
* Osama bin Lad ...
. The show premiered Sunday, October 2, 2011, at 10/9 central. It has been met with major critical acclaim and maintained a steady viewership rating throughout its first season. Showtime premiered its fourth season on October 5, 2014.
In 2012, he won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for writing the "
Pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
" of ''Homeland'' and the series itself won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.
''Awake''
In 2011, Gordon signed on to
NBC's new Kyle Killen
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
pilot ''
Awake'' as an executive producer. When NBC picked the project up to series status, Gordon added writer and showrunner to his occupational duties on the show. The series only ran from March 1 to May 24, 2012, before it was cancelled.
''Second Chance''
In 2015, Gordon was executive producer on the horror-drama series
''Second Chance'' for
Fox Television Network. The pilot for ''Second Chance'' is based on a script written by
Rand Ravich, who also worked as an executive producer on the series.
''Accused''
In May 2021,
Fox ordered an American adaptation of
''Accused'', the International Emmy-winning British series and it was announced that Gordon would act as executive producer and show-runner. It will be co-produced between
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production company, production and broadcast syndication, distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division o ...
,
All3Media America and
Fox Entertainment
Fox Entertainment is an American entertainment company owned by Fox Corporation known for television production and distribution. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, with offices in ...
and scheduled to premiere in the 2022–23 television season.
Alex Gansa and
David Shore
David Shore (born July 3, 1959) is a Canadian television writer. Shore worked on '' Family Law'', ''NYPD Blue'' and '' Due South'', also producing many episodes of the latter. He created the critically acclaimed series ''House'' and more recent ...
will serve as co-executive producers. It is slated to premiere on January 22, 2023.
Novels
*''Gideon's War'' (also published in the UK as ''The Obelisk'') - 2011
*''Hard Target'' (also published in the UK as ''The Chamber'') - 2012
References
External links
*
Howard Gordon Bio at Icebox.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Howard
1961 births
Homeland (TV series)
Jewish American screenwriters
Living people
Mass media people from Queens, New York
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Princeton University alumni
American showrunners
American male television writers
American television writers
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Roslyn High School alumni
American male screenwriters
Television producers from New York City