HBO Max content cuts see ‘Westworld’ pulled, ‘The Nevers’, ‘Love Life’ & ‘Minx’ cancelled

Love Life

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is continuing to strip HBO Max of content as part of its cost-saving measures, with recently canned Westworld pulled and sci-fi drama The Nevers and comedies Love Life and Minx cancelled.

The decisions were made as HBO Max undergoes an end-of-year financial review by WBD, prompting the cuts as the media giant attempts to reach its savings target.

HBO sci-fi drama Westworld was axed last month after four seasons. Once a ratings and awards draw for the network, the series has seen declining viewership and – as a high-cost production – comes as WBD looks to make $3.5bn in savings following the $43bn merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery.

Fellow sci-fi drama The Nevers, meanwhile, aired the first half of its first season in 2021, with Deadline reporting that the show will now conclude the season on another WBD platform, with the final episode written so as to conclude the show entirely. The US trade said that existing episodes of Westworld are also expected to find a new home on another WBD service, potentially in the FAST space.

HBO Max has meanwhile cancelled Love Life, dropping the show after two seasons. The romantic comedy anthology was the first original scripted series for the streamer and will now be removed from the platform entirely.

Minx, the 1970s-set comedy series which launched on HBO Max earlier this year, has also been dropped by the platform after one season. The second season has nearly completed production, however, and producer-distributor Lionsgate TV plans to find both seasons of the show a new home.

“We have enjoyed a good partnership with HBO Max and are working closely to find a new opportunity for Minx, so current, and new viewers, can continue this journey with us,” said Lionsgate TV.

These latest cancellations and show removals come just days after HBO Max pulled comedy series Gordita Chronicles from the service and cancelled Sweet Life: Los Angeles after two seasons.

Kamikaze

Continued cuts

Last month, WBD accelerated the US launch of its upcoming combined HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service to spring 2023, while increasing its savings target by $500m to $3.5bn.

Previous cost-cutting efforts have seen content written off and staff levels slashed, with a recent wave of redundancies hitting around 125 positions at Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) as part of the ongoing restructuring. The company laid off 14% of HBO and HBO Max staff – around 70 people – in August, with unscripted and live-action family programming hit the hardest.

That same month, WBD execs revealed the company had shelved its $90m-budget Batgirl movie despite the feature being in post production, while in July, TBI exclusively confirmed both that HBO Max was not going ahead with previously announced plans to expand the streamer internationally, and that the HBO Max EMEA originals team will close by the end of the year.

Also back in July, WBD halted development of local original productions for HBO Max in the Nordics, Central Europe, the Netherlands and Turkey and pulled shows including Hungarian drama The Informant, Swedish comedy Lust and Denmark’s Kamikaze.