Produced by Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer, Iron Man) and based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Sympathizer aired more quietly than expected last year, despite the big names involved with the project. Written by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden) and Don McKellar (Twitch City, Michael: Every Day), the HBO miniseries is briefly in the limelight once more, as the critically acclaimed Park and McKellar have been expelled from WGA West for writing on it during the 2023 strike.

According to Deadline, the WGA and over 25,000 of its members went on strike from May 2 to September 27, 2023 before accepting a deal with the studios and streaming platforms. Similarly, SAG-AFTRA and its 160,000 members went on strike from July 14 to November 9, 2023 before compromising with AMPTP. Park and McKellar allegedly wrote on the series while their fellow WGA members were out of work and/or out protesting.

After being delayed during that time, The Sympathizer still premiered on HBO on April 14, 2024. The consequences that Park and McKellar are now facing for writing on it, according to the WGAW, are the absolute harshest the Guild can penalize its members with, Deadline writes. Despite this, Park and McKellar did not appeal or dispute the allegations and penalties brought onto them.

According to Deadline, the writers of The Sympathizer are allowed to work globally. However, they are unable to work for Disney, HBO, Netflix, and other companies that have signed the WGA’s collective bargaining agreement.

Park and McKellar were not the only ones whose expulsions and disciplinary measures were made public. Deadline recalls that the Guild announced penalties against six other members for their alleged work during the 2023 strike, in addition to another member for an alleged violation of the guild’s constitution back in early April. Now, with the addition of Anthony Cipriano’s (Bates Motel, 12 and Holding) suspension until May 1, 2026, the WGA says that “there are no further strike related disciplines, and all Article X proceedings arising from the 2023 strike have concluded.”

According to the WGA constitution, “no suspended or expelled member may be readmitted to membership in the Guild except by action of the Board, which may assess a fine and/or other conditions before readmission,” Deadline writes.