George Kraychyk/Hulu Chances are if your favorite show felt different over the years, a showrunner shift occurred at some point behind the scenes. Law & Order: Organized Crime attempted to solidify itself as a successful spinoff of Law & Order: SVU but instead it has continued to make headlines for numerous showrunners exiting the series. The police procedural, which premiered in 2021 on NBC, stars Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, reprising his role from SVU. By the time the show was renewed for its fifth season - and moved to Peacock - it had gone through seven showrunner changes. No official statement was made about the numerous swaps in the writers' room. Meanwhile, The Handmaid's Tale became a household name with Bruce Miller at the helm. The hit series then faced a shakeup right before its sixth and final season when Miller stepped down as showrunner. He remained a writer and executive producer but passed on his duties to executive producers Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang. TV's Shadiest Behind-the-Scenes Shakeups "We are ending our show on our own creative terms," he told Entertainment Weekly in 2022 before his departure. "Do I know what happens in season 6? Yes, I did think about the stuff that happens in season 6 for a while." Keep scrolling for more shows with significant showrunner swaps: 'Twisted Metal' Peacock David Reed will take over as showrunner in season 3, replacing Michael Jonathan Smith, who ran the series for its first two seasons. 'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Virginia Sherwood/NBC When Stabler got his own show in 2020, Matt Olmstead took on the role of showrunner but ultimately stepped down later that year. He was replaced by Ilene Chaiken, who remained on the show for one season before Barry O'Brien took over. Bryan Goluboff became the showrunner for season 3 but left after three months. He was replaced by Sean Jablonski, who left due to "creative differences" and David Graziano took over for the final episodes of the season. After Law & Order: Organized Crime was renewed for a fourth season, John Shiban was brought on as the newest showrunner but he didn't stick around and Olmstead was brought back to finish up the scripts as an executive producer. 'The Handmaid's Tale' Hulu When the show was first in development, Chaiken was meant to run the show but Showtime passed on the pilot. Miller became the official showrunner once Hulu picked up the series and remained at the helm until the final season. Miller stepped down in order to focus on adapting The Testaments and Tuchman and Chang were named co-showrunners for the sixth and final season. 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Netflix After Netflix announced a reimagined live-action remake of Avatar, creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were named as showrunners. They departed the series in 2020 due to creative differences and Albert Kim came onboard instead. Kim stepped down after the show was renewed and Christine Boylan and Jabbar Raisani became showrunners for the second and third seasons. 'Call Me Kat' FOX The Fox sitcom, which starred Mayim Bialik, hired Darlene Hunt as a showrunner, which lasted for one season until Alissa Neubauer took over. Jim Patterson and Maria Ferrari were announced as the new showrunners for the third season, which turned out to be the show's last. TV Shows That Changed Their Premise: From 'Scrubs' to 'Saved by the Bell' 'Designated Survivor' ABC Amy B. Harris was originally set to be the showrunner in 2016 but stepped down after Designated Survivor was officially picked up. Jon Harmon Feldman replaced Harris until Jeff Melvoin came on to supervise the second half of the first season. From there, writer Keith Eisner took over until the show was canceled on ABC. Netflix revived the series, which paved the way for Neal Baer to be named showrunner. 'The Walking Dead' AMC The post-apocalyptic series premiered in 2010 with Frank Darabont at the helm. He departed after one season and Glen Mazzara took over until season 3. Scott M. Gimple was promoted to showrunner for four seasons until he became Chief Content Officer of the entire Walking Dead franchise and Angela Kang replaced him in the writers' room. 'West Wing' NBC The political series was created by Aaron Sorkin in 1999 and he remained with the show until the fifth season. After his departure, John Wells remained the sole executive producer and showrunner until the 2006 series finale. 'Grey's Anatomy' Disney/Tina Thorpe Considering how long Grey's Anatomy has been on the air, it makes sense that there have been some changes behind the scenes. Shonda Rhimes was the original showrunner for five seasons until Krista Vernoff joined her at the helm. One season later, Rhimes was began working alongside Tony Phelan and Joan Rater and the pair remained in charge when Rhimes stepped down to focus on other projects. From seasons 11 to 13, Stacy Mckee and William Harper were the showrunners before Mckee left and Vernoff returned. Vernoff was subsequentl