The Producer of ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Explains the Show’s Unlikely Success

The Producer of ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ Explains the Show’s Unlikely Success

The Queen’s Gambit producer William Horberg joins the pod to talk about his much discussed show.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

This week we speak to producer William Horberg about The Queen’s Gambit, one of the most watched Netflix productions of the year. We talk to William about how the show came to be, compliments and critiques of the show, the show’s anti–cold war politics, and why it has been such a success.

We also have Choice Words about the NFL’s handling of the coronavirus and the curious case of an NFL game that was played on a Wednesday afternoon. In addition, we have Just Stand Up and Just Sit Down awards to the new Houston Rocket John Wall, who will always be remembered as a Washington Wizard, and Wizard General Manager Tommy Sheppard, who mishandled the Wall trade. All this and more on this week’s show!

William Horberg
Twitter: @WilliamHorberg
Yahoo Style: We focused on making chess cinematic

Zirin
The Baltimore Ravens’ Cautionary Covid Tale

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

Disobey authoritarians, support The Nation

Over the past year you’ve read Nation writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family’s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court’s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.

We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.

In 2026, our aim is to do more than ever before—but we need your support to make that happen. 

Through December 31, a generous donor will match all donations up to $75,000. That means that your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If we hit the full match, we’ll be starting 2026 with $150,000 to invest in the stories that impact real people’s lives—the kinds of stories that billionaire-owned, corporate-backed outlets aren’t covering. 

With your support, our team will publish major stories that the president and his allies won’t want you to read. We’ll cover the emerging military-tech industrial complex and matters of war, peace, and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, healthcare, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. At the same time, we’ll imagine alternatives to Trumpian rule and uplift efforts to create a better world, here and now. 

While your gift has twice the impact, I’m asking you to support The Nation with a donation today. You’ll empower the journalists, editors, and fact-checkers best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration to account. 

I hope you won’t miss this moment—donate to The Nation today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel 

Editor and publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x