Eric Ellis Overmyer(1951-2026)
- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Eric Overmyer was an influential and prolific American screenwriter, playwright and producer. Described by many as a master storyteller, he has been lauded for his key contributions to some of TV’s most critically acclaimed drama series.
Overmyer graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Portland’s Reed College in 1973. He began his career in 1981 as a literary manager for the not-for-profit Playwrights Horizons in New York. Having segued into television by the mid-80s, his first contribution was a script for the medical drama St. Elsewhere (1982). In 1996, with several other episodic writing credits under his belt, Overmyer was brought in to work on the gritty NBC crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), initially as writer, then, respectively, as consulting and supervising producer. He next worked in the same capacities on Law & Order (1990), finishing as executive producer at the end of Season 15. In between, Overmyer found time to author several off-Broadway plays, including the whimsical On the Verge (1985) and the noirish thriller Dark Rapture (1993).
His next stint was as writer/consulting producer on The Wire (2002) in 2006, earning him and the scripting crew a shared Edgar Allen Poe Award, followed by a WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series. He then collaborated with David Simon as co-creator of HBO’s Treme (2010), set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Tremé, a working class neighbourhood of New Orleans. Overmyer spent some time residing in the city to benefit from oral traditions for extra authenticity. The local newspaper, The Times-Picayune, reported that Treme is "the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves, has always desired, but has been denied."
Very much at the top of his game, Overmyer took on the role of executive producer/showrunner for the Prohibition-era crime series Boardwalk Empire (2010) (Season 4) and for the dystopian alternative history drama The Man in the High Castle (2015) (Season 3). Arguably the highlight of his distinguished career was to develop and executive produce the superior police procedural drama Bosch (2014) (and its spin-off Bosch: Legacy (2022)) for Amazon Prime. Based on novels by Michael Connelly, Bosch -- starring Titus Welliver as the tough, uncompromisingly relentless detective -- ran to seven seasons amid almost universal popular and critical acclaim. Connelly eulogised Overmyer by saying "We went on to make 98 episodes of one of the best detective stories ever told on television. It wouldn’t have happened without Eric. Now he’s gone but the stories he told will live on."
Eric Ellis Overmyer died on March 16 2026, aged 74.
Overmyer graduated with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Portland’s Reed College in 1973. He began his career in 1981 as a literary manager for the not-for-profit Playwrights Horizons in New York. Having segued into television by the mid-80s, his first contribution was a script for the medical drama St. Elsewhere (1982). In 1996, with several other episodic writing credits under his belt, Overmyer was brought in to work on the gritty NBC crime drama Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), initially as writer, then, respectively, as consulting and supervising producer. He next worked in the same capacities on Law & Order (1990), finishing as executive producer at the end of Season 15. In between, Overmyer found time to author several off-Broadway plays, including the whimsical On the Verge (1985) and the noirish thriller Dark Rapture (1993).
His next stint was as writer/consulting producer on The Wire (2002) in 2006, earning him and the scripting crew a shared Edgar Allen Poe Award, followed by a WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series. He then collaborated with David Simon as co-creator of HBO’s Treme (2010), set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Tremé, a working class neighbourhood of New Orleans. Overmyer spent some time residing in the city to benefit from oral traditions for extra authenticity. The local newspaper, The Times-Picayune, reported that Treme is "the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves, has always desired, but has been denied."
Very much at the top of his game, Overmyer took on the role of executive producer/showrunner for the Prohibition-era crime series Boardwalk Empire (2010) (Season 4) and for the dystopian alternative history drama The Man in the High Castle (2015) (Season 3). Arguably the highlight of his distinguished career was to develop and executive produce the superior police procedural drama Bosch (2014) (and its spin-off Bosch: Legacy (2022)) for Amazon Prime. Based on novels by Michael Connelly, Bosch -- starring Titus Welliver as the tough, uncompromisingly relentless detective -- ran to seven seasons amid almost universal popular and critical acclaim. Connelly eulogised Overmyer by saying "We went on to make 98 episodes of one of the best detective stories ever told on television. It wouldn’t have happened without Eric. Now he’s gone but the stories he told will live on."
Eric Ellis Overmyer died on March 16 2026, aged 74.
In Memoriam: Stars We Lost in 2026
In Memoriam: Stars We Lost in 2026
We pay tribute to the stars we lost this year, including Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.
