Ronan Farrow Finalizes Three-Year Deal With HBO (Exclusive)

Farrow will develop and front a series of investigative documentaries for the network.

Ronan Farrow has finalized a three-year deal with HBO, the network confirmed Thursday, to commence later this year. Farrow will develop and front a series of investigative documentary specials for HBO. He also will produce topical pieces for HBO's other platforms.

The deal comes on the heels of Farrow's groundbreaking reporting for The New Yorker magazine on now-disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein. He will remain at the magazine.

Farrow detailed decades of sexual assault allegations against Weinstein in multiple pieces for The New Yorker. He also penned an explosive examination of Weinstein's army of enablers, including lawyers, publicists, agents, gossip media toadies — and corporate investigative firms, which Weinstein employed to keep misconduct buried, although it was an open secret in Hollywood.

News of Farrow's alliance with HBO was first reported Wednesday in The Hollywood Reporter's cover profile of the journalist. HBO programming president Casey Bloys made the announcement at the outset of the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena.

"Ronan Farrow's extraordinary, revelatory reporting for The New Yorker has helped to propel a string of other investigations, breakthroughs and overdue conversations," said Bloys. "His work has contributed to this watershed moment in our culture, and we are excited to provide a platform for this dogged reporter to pursue projects that continue to speak truth to power."

Farrow's reporting transformed him into a hot commodity among media companies, though he has only ever had one less than successful TV gig on his résumé — an MSNBC show that lasted a year on the network. Since the show was canceled in early 2015, Farrow had been doing investigative pieces for NBC News, which mostly ran on the Today show.

It was during this time that he began looking into Weinstein. But ultimately, network executives declined to move forward with the story and allowed him to take his reporting to The New Yorker, where the first of multiple Weinstein stories was published on Oct. 10.

Farrow has been somewhat open about his frustration with NBC News; he had multiple accusers on camera, though some had their identities obscured, and a damning 2015 NYPD recording of Weinstein admitting to assault.

Farrow told THR that the Weinstein exposés "illustrated for all of us in the media how much pent-up demand there is for tough investigative reporting that speaks truth to power. And if I can do one thing that's of use to this world, I think it will be more stories that tackle the establishment and expose the abuse of power in this country."

Farrow is a contributor at The New Yorker, where he is working on a piece for the magazine. He is also finishing a book, War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and Decline of American Influence, due out in April from WW Norton.