HBO Max might soon be under new management, assuming they can shake on a price, make the regulators happy, and avoid beef with some of the bidders which have been circling the wagon as the media giant has put itself on the bidding block.

It’s also possible that neither party expected a plot twist quite like this. Streaming giant Netflix has reportedly entered “exclusive talks” with HBO parent Warner Bros. Discovery, just days after the WSJ reported that the company submitted a majority cash offer to purchase both the company’s studio and streaming platform.

The specific terms of the deal remain unknown, but the one-time media underdog is said to have emerged the highest bidder in a two-stage auction.

Netflix is said to edged out offers from NBCUniversal parent Comcast — which proposed a merger between the soon-to-be-spun off entertainment company — and the deep pocketed Paramount Skydance, the entertainment giant formed by the recent merger of Paramount and Ellison family-owned Skydance.

The latter could be notable, as Paramount Skydance has levied complaints about the “fairness and adequacy” of the auction process that the company undertook to solicit interest for one of media’s biggest takeouts in recent memory. Paramount has also suggested that the deal would face antitrust troubles.

That hasn’t been a sticking point for WBD or Netflix, rich will likely make the case that the tie-up wouldn’t raise prices for consumers. However, WBD has little to lose to entering talks with its one-time competition: Netflix is said to have offered a $5 billion breakup fee in the event that regulators were to shoot down the deal, matching an offering in the competing Paramount Skydance proposal.

A deal could come to fruition in the coming days, per the report. Until then, speculation will make the rounds on what amount of money will get the deal done. Netflix is expected to offer a modest premium to the company’s current $24.54 share price, perhaps offering up to $30/sh.

However, even once it’s all said and done, Netflix will have a new plot line to work out: financing the deal and figuring out the best angle for attacking Warner Bros. Discovery’s substantial debt. Perhaps it’s the biggest question in all of this — what do you do with the thing that has weighed on the company in its various forms in recent years.

Warner Bros. Discovery is up 130% year-to-date amid the deal talks. Netflix has jumped 16.4%.