Warner Bros. TV Group chair Channing Dungey told staff Tuesday that Sam Register’s contract will not be renewed. He has led Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe for 18 years and joined Cartoon Network in 1994.
The man who built much of modern Cartoon Network is leaving next week.
Sam Register, president of Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios, and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, departs when his contract expires at the end of this month.
Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Television Group and WBD U.S. Networks, announced it in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon. The two “mutually agreed not to renew his contract.”
Dungey’s memo opened with an admission that corporate announcements usually avoid. “I know this comes as a surprise and you have a lot to digest.”
What Register and Dungey said
Dungey called him “a great talent” and thanked him for “all the enormous contributions he’s made over his 18 years heading up our animation efforts.”
Register’s own statement was brief and gave nothing away.
“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,” he said. “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.”
He started at Cartoon Network in 1994
Register began at Cartoon Network in 1994 and launched the network’s first website in 1998. He created Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, which ran three seasons, and developed or produced a run of series that defined the channel for a generation: Teen Titans, Ben 10, Chowder, Flapjack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars.
He signed a first-look deal with the network in November 2006, moved to Warner Bros. the following year as a producer, became EVP of creative affairs in 2008, and was promoted to president in 2014.
Along the way came Teen Titans Go!, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and Adult Swim’s Mike Tyson Mysteries.
Warner Bros. Animation released Batman: Knightfall Part 1 earlier this week.
His division had already been shrinking
Basic cable has been in decline for years, and HBO Max has pulled back from original kids and family programming. Register’s operation has contracted considerably from Warner Bros. Animation’s peak, per Deadline, which also noted he was appointed under a previous Warner Bros. TV Group regime.
Separately, ComicBook reported this week that Cartoon Network has ended its original animation program, with at least one creator publicly unhappy about it.
So the executive is exiting a department that has been getting smaller around him.
The Paramount question
The timing invites an obvious theory involving the sale of WBD to Paramount.
Warner Bros. Discovery is being acquired by Paramount, a deal still working through the courts with a trial set for next year. Paramount has its own animation operation and its own leadership, having named Jennifer Dodge president of Paramount Animation in 2025.
Deadline noted that a search for Register’s replacement is notable given the pending transaction, while stating plainly that it is unclear whether his departure is connected to the deal.
Nobody has said the two are linked. Nobody has said they aren’t.
Who runs animation now
Warner Bros. has an interim structure rather than a named successor.
Matt Matzkin continues leading business operations. The existing creative department heads, including Jay Bastian on current series, keep running their groups while the search proceeds.
A search for a permanent replacement is underway, though whoever takes the job would be stepping into a division whose ownership may change before they finish their first year.
Thirty years, one company, and a body of work most people under forty grew up watching. Register left with a thank-you note and no explanation, which is usually how these go.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Variety (August 25, 2026), the exclusive first report on the Dungey memo, the full statements, and the interim leadership structure
Deadline (August 25, 2026), Register’s three decades at the company, the division’s contraction amid cable decline and HBO Max’s retreat from kids programming, and the Paramount acquisition context
Animation World Network (August 2026), the 18-year tenure, the 1994 Cartoon Network start, the 1998 website launch, and the Teen Titans, Ben 10, Chowder, Flapjack, and Clone Wars credits
The Hollywood Reporter (August 25, 2026), the full Dungey memo text and the surprise acknowledgment
ComicBook (August 26, 2026), Evan Valentine’s report on the departure and the Batman: Knightfall Part 1 release