Since AT&T merged with Discovery Communications earlier this year, the business deal has greatly impacted Warner Bros. and its streaming service HBO Max. Among the changes has been troubling announcements of numerous original movies and TV shows being completely removed from the streaming service, including news this week that hit shows like Westworld, Minx, amidst its production on Season 2, and the inclusive comedy The Gordita Chronicles were being taken off. We finally have some answers from the company about their plans for the content they are removing.
Per an HBO Max press release, Warner Bros Discovery has decided it will be moving the removed HBO Max original programming to a third party, free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service yet to be announced. The company detailed the following shows will go to WBD’s FAST offering on an undetermined date in 2023:
- Westworld – Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4
- The Nevers – Season 1
- Raised by Wolves – Seasons 1, 2
- FBOY Island – Seasons 1, 2
- Legendary – Seasons 1, 2, 3
- Finding Magic Mike – Season 1
- Head of the Class – Season 1
- The Time Traveler’s Wife – Season 1
And, the following series will be removed from HBO Max as well. However, the new homes of these series are not necessarily designated for WB's FAST offering and could land elsewhere:
- Gordita Chronicles – Season 1
- Love Life – Seasons 1, 2
- Made for Love – Seasons 1, 2
- The Garcias – Season 1
- Minx – Seasons 1, 2
These changes are a result of Warner Bros Discovery trying to get itself out of a hole of debt of $47 billion. As previously reported, these HBO Max offerings were not only cancelled, they will be completely removed from being viewed on the service so that the company no longer has to pay residuals to those part of these movies and shows when they are viewed.
This also follows Warner Bros. Discovery shocking fans when it completely pulled the DC film Batgirl and the Scoob! prequel from ever seeing the light of day even though it had been filmed completely. It looks like more titles could disappear as well. As an expert on the subject, NScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon told IndieWire amidst the news that it’s possible older original content on HBO Max could be chosen to be monetized on a FAST service as well.
This certainly leaves a lot of question marks regarding the future of HBO Max content, including fans certainly getting nervous about their own favorite shows leaving the platform. The audiences of HBO Max’s Harley Quinn previously went viral by sharing their thoughts about the service possibly cancelling the series in particular, telling the company that it “better not lay a hand on her.”
If these titles haven’t been removed already, they’ll only be available to stream with an HBO Max subscription for a few more days. It’s certainly troubling to see some major shows get the axe and be without a home, but we’ll be following these developments closely.
