The Obamas ‘Higher Ground’ are leaving Netflix, their next chapter in Hollywood?

Barack and Michelle Obama‘s production company, Higher Ground, is preparing to leave its exclusive partnership with Netflix and operate as an independent studio. The former president announced on Saturday at a special edition of HistoryTalks in Philadelphia, staged to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, telling the audience that after eight years with the streaming giant, Higher Ground is transitioning toward a model that allows it to work freely across multiple studios and platforms.

The move had been quietly signalled for some time. Since shifting from an exclusive overall deal to a first-look arrangement with Netflix in 2024, Higher Ground has been placing projects across a wide range of outlets, including HBO, Apple, Amazon, FX, Disney, 20th Century Studios, AMC, CBS Studios, and YouTube, effectively road-testing the independent model well ahead of its formal launch.

What Higher Ground achieved at Netflix

The Netflix chapter was, by any measure, a formidable one. Over eight years, Higher Ground produced 24 greenlighted projects spanning film, television, documentary, unscripted, sports, and family programming. The slate earned three Oscar nominations and one win, alongside twelve Emmy nominations and six wins. Highlights include the Oscar-winning documentary American Factory, the Colman Domingo-led Rustin, the apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind,  which ranked among Netflix’s most-watched English-language films, and the Will Forte-fronted series Bodkin.

Barack Obama framed the partnership as a platform to tell stories that held up a mirror to American life, projects rooted in the country’s history, its contradictions, and what he described as the moral and ethical commitments at the heart of the democratic project.

What comes next

Higher Ground is already deep into its independent future. On the television side, a sketch comedy series created by Larry David and Jeff Schaffer is set to premiere on HBO this summer. On Netflix, two high-profile limited series remain in the pipeline: a prestige drama starring Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Nicole Beharie, and a separate project starring Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle.

The company also has an expanding audio division, with several podcast series already in production, and a Broadway presence — Higher Ground is co-producing the current revival of David Auburn’s play Proof, starring Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle, which opened in New York on April 17. Both Obamas attended opening night and met the cast backstage.

For a company founded on the idea that storytelling can do the work of public life, going independent is less a departure than an expansion, and the Obamas are arriving at that next stage with a track record that few production companies, new or established, can match.