Drew Barrymore's Head Writers Refuse to Return to Talk Show Post-Strike

Drew Barrymore's actions during the writers' strike appear to have royally pissed off the top writers on her talk show, because they're quitting ... refusing to work when the show returns, post-strike.

A trio of co-head writers who worked on "The Drew Barrymore Show" pre-strike have reportedly turned down offers to come back and work for her syndicated daytime program -- which leaves the production in hurry-up mode to hire some new scribes ... per THR.

These writers turning their backs on Drew are Chelsea White, Cristina Kinon and Liz Koe -- and they've been working on DB's show since season 1.

While the WGA strike was ongoing, however, they could be seen picketing outside of CBS's NYC office on multiple occasions. And, when Drew announced she was prematurely bringing her show back (before the strike was over) a couple of them openly expressed disappointment in their boss ... echoing the backlash Drew received at large.

Of course, Drew ended up reversing course and ultimately held off on having her talk show return to the air -- as did several other hosts -- but clearly the relationship between Drew and her head writers was damaged.

Not too long after that ... the AMPTP and WGA ended up striking a deal, and the picketing writers were given the green light to go back to work.

Now that Drew's without her key writers, it's unclear if this will affect her official return date -- which was just announced as Oct. 16. Their departure certainly throws a wrench in the works.