Three prominent British actors have called on the UK government to block the proposed $111 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros.
Discovery.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming, and Benedict Wong published a joint op-ed in The Guardian on July 27, 2026, arguing that the deal would harm workers, cultural diversity, and news independence.
Impact on Jobs and Production
The UK screen sector supports over 180,000 jobs and generated nearly £6.8 billion in local production spending last year.
The actors warned that cost-cutting measures to service Paramount's estimated $84 billion in debt would jeopardize these positions.
Paramount executives have promised investors $6 billion in cost savings after the transaction, which the actors said would lead to redundancies and cancelled productions.
"In plain English, that means redundancies, cancelled productions, fewer films commissioned and fewer risks taken," they wrote.
The performers emphasized their personal connection to the industry, referencing sound stages at Leavesden and the crews that sustain local creative labor.
Media Concentration Concerns
The merged entity would control UK public service broadcaster Channel 5 alongside US news networks CBS and CNN.
Unifying these archives under a single board risks placing historical memory under commercial control, according to the actors.
"If one commercially interested owner controls access to both, they control the raw material of our historical memory," they stated.
The actors noted that corporate leadership discussed prospective editorial changes before regulatory approval, justifying immediate scrutiny.
"Fold those newsrooms into a single company, and one boardroom’s commercial anxieties—or political debts—determine what millions of people see," they added.
The actors addressed UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who recently indicated she is minded to launch a formal public interest investigation.
"The fight against this merger now runs on two fronts, and Nandy commands one of them," they said.
They called on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Competition and Markets Authority to perform a full review.
The actors stressed that creative workers must defend the local industry from catastrophic consolidation.
"The U. K.
is being threatened by a media merger that would harm our workers, our culture and the public — but we can stop it," they said.
They pointed to past consolidations, including Discovery's 2022 acquisition of WarnerMedia and Skydance's merger with Paramount, as precedents that led to layoffs and cancelled projects.
The legal battle continues globally, with the European Commission granting conditional approval and twelve US states filing suit to halt the deal.
