Manny Coto, Producer and Director, Has Died

Manny Coto at 2020 Fox upfront
(Image credit: Michael Buckner/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Producer/director Manny Coto, whose credits include 24, 24: Legacy and American Horror Story, died July 9. He was 62 and had battled pancreatic cancer. 

Born in Havana, Coto and his mother moved to the United States when he was a baby, with his father joining them later. He grew up in Orlando. 

Coto created the Showtime sci fi series Odyssey 5 and the Fox thriller Next, the latter an artificial intelligence thriller with John Slattery in the lead role. The idea for that drama came from Coto’s young son, he told B+C, who had a sleepless night and told Dad that Alexa had been speaking with him overnight. “It had a ghost story feel to it,” he said. 

He also worked on Dexter, American Horror Stories, 24: Live Another Day and Star Trek: Enterprise, and was showrunner on the latter. 

“Manny was an incredibly beloved member of the 20th Television and FX family for close to two decades,” the studio and network said in a statement that ran in several publications. “He was brilliantly creative with a deep intellectual curiosity, and his loyalty and friendship touched many. He will be immensely missed by all who were fortunate to have known and worked with him over the years, and our sincere condolences go out to his beautiful family at this most difficult time.”

Coto’s film projects included horror movie Dr. Giggles, superhero story Star Kid and thriller The Ticking Man

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.