Peter Morgan was on his way toward a Tony Blair hat trick, preparing to write and direct The Special Relationship after writing both the BBC movie The Deal and 2006's The Queen. Michael Sheen will have played the British prime minister in all three films, but now he'll be doing it with Richard Loncraine as a director, with Morgan just on board as a writer and executive producer.

THR doesn't explain why Morgan bailed, simply quoting a statement from HBO that Morgan will still be "Integrally involved in every aspect of the production." The Special Relationship will focus on the political dynamic between Bill Clinton (Dennis Quaid) and Blair, also featuring Julianne Moore as Hillary Clinton and Helen McCrory as Cheri Blair. Loncraine has a new movie coming out this summer, the comedy My One and Only, and also made 2004's Wimbledon.