Warner Bros. Animation Faces An Uncertain Future As Sam Register Departs

Sam Register, one of the animation industry’s longest-serving and most respected studio executives, is leaving Warner Bros. Animation after 18 years at the helm.

Register and Warner Bros. Television Group have “mutually agreed” not to renew his contract, according to an internal memo sent to employees by Warner Bros. Television Group chairman and CEO Channing Dungey. His current roles include president of Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe.

Register will depart when his contract expires at the end of the month. A search for his replacement is underway.

In a message shared with employees, Register said:

It’s time for me to move on to the next chapter in my life, and I’m grateful to have Channing’s support as I exit Warner Bros Animation. It’s been an amazing ride and I want to extend my sincere thanks to all the great people I’ve worked with — we’ve built some incredible things together. I wish you all the best moving forward, and I’m excited to explore all the possibilities in my future.

During the transition, Matt Matzkin will continue to oversee business operations. The studios’ creative departments will remain under their current leaders: Jay Bastian for current series, Jason DeMarco for anime and action series, Audrey Diehl for kids and family, Sarah Fell for Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, Peter Girardi for alternative and adult programming, and Sammy Perlmutter for long-form productions and specials.

Dungey said in her message that Register’s departure would surprise employees and urged staff to stay focused during the transition.

Register has spent much of his career within the Warner and Cartoon Network animation ecosystem. He joined Cartoon Network in 1996 and later led Cartoon Network Online, helping to create CartoonNetwork.com. As a development executive and producer, he was involved with some of the network’s standout early-2000s productions, including Star Wars: Clone Wars, Teen Titans, Ben 10, Chowder, and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.

He joined Warner Bros. Animation as a producer in 2007 and took charge of the studio’s creative operations the following year, when he was named executive vice president of creative affairs. He was promoted to president of Warner Bros. Animation in 2014 and added oversight of Cartoon Network Studios in 2020. He also led Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, the London operation behind series including The Amazing World of Gumball and The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe.

Register’s tenure at Warner Bros. Animation produced an admirably diverse slate, ranging from creator-driven reinventions of legacy properties to DC productions, preschool programming, adult series, anime, and original projects. Shows produced under his leadership included Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Teen Titans Go!, Young Justice, Mike Tyson Mysteries, Harley Quinn, Looney Tunes Cartoons, Jellystone!, My Adventures with Superman, and Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. It is impossible to identify a single “house style” or overarching trend among the titles released during his time in charge.

He also maintained long-running relationships with some of the industry’s top filmmakers, including Genndy Tartakovsky, whose projects for the studios included Primal and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, and supported artists such as Peter Browngardt, C.H. Greenblatt, Lauren Faust, and Bruce Timm in producing distinctive interpretations of Warner-owned characters. He helped foster a lineage of well-known and much-loved creators spanning decades.

Among artists, Register developed a reputation as a rare major-studio executive who understood animation as both an industry and an art form. His public opposition to replacing artists with generative AI reinforced that standing. Speaking in 2023, Register argued that studios needed to protect artists and preserve entry-level jobs, particularly in storyboarding, so emerging talent could gain professional experience.

His departure follows several turbulent years for Warner Bros. Discovery’s animation operations. Since the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, the company has consolidated the development and production operations of Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, eliminated jobs, vacated Cartoon Network Studios’ longtime Burbank building, canceled projects, and removed numerous animated titles from its streaming service.

Although Register oversaw the studios during that period, the animation community widely viewed him as an advocate for artists working within a corporate structure that had become increasingly hostile to animation. Put simply, the struggles that have defined the past several years at Warner Bros.’ animation studios can hardly be laid at his feet. That does not absolve him of complicity, but after more than two decades of positive influence at the company, his reputation among artists and industry colleagues remains largely intact.

Register’s exit leaves Warner Bros. Discovery in a tough spot at a historically tenuous moment for its parent company. For the good of the organization, Warner Bros. will need to find more than an administrative replacement. The next animation boss, or perhaps more likely bosses, will oversee three studios, manage some of entertainment’s most valuable character libraries, and maintain the confidence of an artistic community that has endured years of contraction and upheaval.

Register’s shoes will be difficult, if not impossible, to adequately fill.