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Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing are American sibling screenwriters who had formerly worked as a team. They are known for their work on the
Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...
series ''
Spartacus Spartacus (; ) was a Thracians, Thracian gladiator (Thraex) who was one of the Slavery in ancient Rome, escaped slave leaders in the Third Servile War, a major Slave rebellion, slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Historical accounts o ...
'' and '' Black Sails'', and for
The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
superhero drama ''
The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
''. They stopped writing together after Season 3 of ''The Flash'', splitting into separate careers. The Helbings are known for their ability to blend high-stakes drama with superhero tropes, often incorporating emotional depth into their characters while maintaining the action and spectacle expected from genre shows.


Career

In 1999, Todd first got his start on the drama ''
Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime-time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex in West Hollywood, ...
'', where he served as an assistant production coordinator. He then had positions on such projects as ''
Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...
'' and ''
The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...
''. He and his brother first worked together on 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 ...
series ''
Carnivàle ''Carnivàle'' () is an American television series set in the United States Dust Bowl during the Great Depression of the 1930s. The series, created by Daniel Knauf, ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005. In tracing the lives of disparate gr ...
''; Todd as an assistant production coordinator, and Aaron as a writers assistant. Todd then spent 2009 as a script coordinator on ''
Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...
'', while Aaron worked on the cable dramas '' Saved'' and '' Brotherhood'', also as a script coordinator. The first script the two co-wrote was for the
Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
prequel series ''
Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...
''’s season seven episode "Hero". They went on to write for such series as '' Mortal Kombat: Legacy'', '' Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn'' and '' The Mob Doctor''. They served as supervising producers on the second season of the
Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...
drama '' Black Sails''; writing the episode "XIII.".


''Spartacus''

The duo wrote an episode ("Paterfamilias") of the
Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...
prequel mini-series '' Spartacus: Gods of the Arena'', for which they also served as story editors. They then returned for the sequel series '' Spartacus: War of the Damned'', again as story editors and writers. Co-writing, in total, four episodes ("The Thing in the Pit", "Mark of the Brotherhood", "Libertus", "Wolves at the Gate").


''The Flash''

In summer 2014, the brothers were hired as co-executive producers and writers on another
DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
produced CW series ''
The Flash The Flash is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date, cover-dated Jan ...
''. The first episode they co-wrote, along with Brooke Eikmeier, is the freshman series' fifth installment, "Plastique". The episode introduces the titular supervillainess. The duo co-wrote the first midseason finale, "The Man in the Yellow Suit"; which delves into the mystery of the
Reverse Flash The Reverse-Flash is a name used by several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Each iteration of the character serves as a foil and an enemy of the Flash. Characters Edward Clariss Edward Clariss (also k ...
. They co-wrote the series' twelfth installment, "Crazy for You". The episode introduces DC Comics character
Linda Park Linda Park (born July 9, 1978) is a South Korean-born American actress. She is best known for playing communications officer Hoshi Sato in the science-fiction series ''Star Trek: Enterprise.'' Early life Park was born in South Korea and raised ...
, as
Barry Allen Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the second character known as the Flash, following Flash (Jay Garrick), Jay Garrick. The character first appeared in ''Showcase (comic ...
's new love interest. The brothers co-wrote the series' pivotal 15th episode "Out of Time"; in which the supervillain
Weather Wizard Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Weather Wizard made his first live-action appearance in the television specials '' Legends of the Superheroes'' (1979), played by Jeff Altma ...
is introduced, and the Flash experiences
time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...
for the first time. Lastly, they wrote the 22nd installment of the show, "Rogue Air", which featured another crossover with ''
Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
''. With the commencement of the sophomore season, the brothers were named executive producers; first writing the second episode, "Flash of Two Worlds". It featured the introduction to
Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
hero Jay Garrick/The Flash. The duo will next pen the seventh installment, "Gorilla Warfare", which featured
Gorilla Grodd Gorilla Grodd is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, the character first appeared in ''The Flash'' #106 (May 1959). He is an evil, super-intelligent gorilla who ...
. Since then. they've written "The Reverse Flash Returns", "Flash Back", "The Race of his Life", the story of "Escape from Earth-2", the teleplay for " Legends of Today". They became showrunners during Season 2 and in Season 3, they wrote "Paradox", the teleplay for the first part of Invasion!, the story of "The Present", Aaron co-wrote the teleplay for " Attack on Gorilla City" and Todd wrote the story of " Attack on Central City", they wrote the teleplay for "
Duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...
" and "Finish Line" - the Season 3 finale. Aaron stepped down as showrunner and Todd continued on - co-writing the teleplay of "The Flash Reborn", solely wrote the teleplay for the Flash part of Crisis on Earth-X and co-wrote "Enter Flashtime" and the season 4 finale "We are the Flash". Todd became the sole showrunner of the Flash during Season 4 after
Andrew Kreisberg Andrew Kreisberg (born April 23, 1971) is an American former television writer, producer and comic book writer. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''The Flash'', ''Arrow'', ''Supergirl'' and ''Legends of Tomorrow''. Pers ...
's firing and continued to solely showrun the show for season 5.


Post-split careers

On August 13, 2018, it was announced that
History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...
's historical drama ''
Knightfall Knightfall may refer to: Television * ''Knightfall'' (TV series), an American historical fiction drama television series * " Knight Fall", an episode of the sixth season of ''House'' * "Knightfall" (''Once Upon a Time''), an episode of the sevent ...
'' was renewed for a second season, and
Aaron Helbing Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing are American sibling screenwriters who had formerly worked as a team. They are known for their work on the Starz series ''Spartacus'' and '' Black Sails'', and for The CW superhero drama ''The Flash''. They stoppe ...
had been hired as executive producer, writer and showrunner for the second season, replacing
Dominic Minghella Dominic Albert Edward Minghella (born 1966) is a British television producer and screenwriter. His most successful project has been the creation of the ITV (TV network), ITV network comedy-drama series ''Doc Martin'', starring Martin Clunes, whi ...
. The series was canceled in May 2020 after two seasons. Todd Helbing would go on to write and produce the CW
superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
television series ''
Superman & Lois ''Superman & Lois'' is an American superhero drama television series developed for The CW by Todd Helbing and Greg Berlanti, based on the DC Comics characters Superman and Lois Lane, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Tyler Hoechlin and ...
'' (2021–24), for which he was an executive producer and showrunner."TODD HELBING,"
cwtvpr.
Aaron Helbing later wrote the eighth episode of Season 3 of the series.


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Helbing, Todd Year of birth missing (living people) American television writers American male television writers Screenwriting duos Living people Brother duos American showrunners