Phoebe-Waller Bridge still earning in $90 million deal despite not making anything since Fleabag

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is making absurd money from her Amazon deal – despite having not made anything new for the streamer since Fleabag.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is bringing in the big bucks from her Amazon Prime deal, despite having not made anything new for the streamer since Fleabag.

In an April 3 report from The Hollywood Reporter, Waller-Bridge’s deal with the streaming giant was scrutinised by multiple sources. She entered the three-year deal with Prime Video in 2019 and has been paid $US 60 million ($A90 million) since.

Her deal was renewed in January and she is currently developing two new projects; however, that doesn’t mean they are going to be completed. When she initially entered the deal, she was set to collaborate with Donald Glover on a Mr and Mrs Smith series based on the 2005 film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, but she exited the project soon after, Decider reports.

Now, Waller-Bridge has renewed her deal with Amazon and is working on a Tomb Raider series as a producer and writer, plus an adaptation of Claudia Lux’s novel Sign Here. The streamer is also still seeking a showrunner for Tomb Raider, leaving many wondering why the Fleabag creator isn’t at the helm, given the self-confessed Tomb Raider fan was linked to the reboot back in January.

Waller-Bridge has earned $90m from her three-year deal … Picture: Getty

… and Amazon have just re-signed her. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty

“Phoebe has not only fully embraced Tomb Raider and I think is feeling very committed to it, but she’s in a writers’ room right now working on it,” said Amazon head of television Vernon Sanders, addressing the recent gossip.

“She’s a perfectionist, so she absolutely wants to make sure that what she does is great and right, but she’s proven that when she does deliver, she delivers.”

A THR source who works as a showrunner at Amazon also commented, criticising the streamer’s draw to star power versus releasing new content.

“They don’t learn from their mistakes. They [say], ‘We can’t do any more deals like that.’ You turn around and they’re right back to – the impolite term is ‘star-f***ing’. For creative executives at the studio, the result has been exasperation,” they said.

But the larger question remains: Why is Amazon keeping Waller-Bridge on retainer? The British star’s name has been attached to numerous works for the streaming giant since 2019, yet none of them have been released.

Waller-Bridge hasn’t made a show for Amazon since Fleabag, which ended in 2019.

And it appears she isn’t the only one. The same report found that Master of None’s Lena Waithe entered a deal with the streaming giant and received a two-season pick-up of her original Prime Video series Them; but did not see any other original works to fruition and left for HBO Max last year.

Waller-Bridge, on the other hand, has continued to work on new projects for other streaming giants, including Killing Eve for BBC and Run for HBO Max. She has also recently starred in His Dark Materials in collaboration with BBC and HBO, and the James Bond movie No Time To Die. She is currently set to star in the upcoming Indiana Jones movie and John Krasinski’s fantasy comedy IF.

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission