Starz Exec Karen Bailey, Who Brought 'Outlander' to the Network, Exits

Karen Bailey, the Starz executive who brought "Outlander" to the network, is leaving the company at the end of the month.

Bailey steps down as executive vice president of original programming as Starz re-aligns its originals team, led by Kathryn Busby, around an owned-IP strategy and broadens its offerings. The network has been reviewing its priorities continuously since completing its separation from Lionsgate in May 2025.

Ahead of her exit, Starz offered Bailey a first-look producing deal. She declined it.

Bailey first joined Starz in 2006. Her most notable achievement across nearly two decades at the company was bringing the hit series "Outlander" to the network. She is also credited with "The White Queen," "The White Princess," the critically acclaimed documentary "Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult," and the limited series "Gaslit."

In her most recent role, Bailey served as the covering executive on the "Outlander" prequel "Outlander: Blood of my Blood" and on the hit series "P-Valley." The prequel order reflects how central Bailey's development work has been to the Starz brand: "Outlander" remains the network's flagship franchise, and its extension was one of the most significant bets in the current originals slate.

"Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Karen is aware of her passion and dedication as a creative leader," Kathryn Busby, Starz's head of original programming, said in a statement. "Having been at Starz since the inception of 'Outlander,' she was integral to shaping the series into the hit the world knows today through her strong creative instincts and her gift for forging trusted relationships with actors and producers. Karen's hybrid skill set across programming and production make her an impressive executive, and we are grateful for all of her work that shaped much of STARZ's original programming over the years."

Bailey issued her own statement marking the departure. "I have cherished my time at Starz and feel incredibly fortunate to have been part of so many extraordinary series and to have worked alongside such talented writers, producers, casts, and crew," Bailey said. "I am enormously proud of what we created together and deeply grateful for the experience. After two remarkable decades, I'm excited to see what the next chapter brings."

The exit carries weight beyond one executive's career arc. Bailey's credits map closely onto the identity Starz built for itself in premium cable: period dramas with strong female leads, prestige limited series, and distinctive Southern storytelling in "P-Valley." Her departure removes one of the longest-tenured creative voices from a network in the middle of a strategic rebuild.

The refusal of the first-look deal signals that Bailey intends to keep her options open rather than stay tethered to Starz as a producer. An executive with her track record — launching a global franchise and shepherding award-caliber limited series — would be a plausible target for rival networks and streamers rebuilding their own slates.

For Starz, the move consolidates creative control under Busby at a moment when the network, newly independent after the Lionsgate split, is betting its future on intellectual property it owns outright. How the owned-IP strategy performs without the executive who helped define the network's earlier originals era will be a measure of the restructuring now underway.