HBO Max Drops Westworld, Will License to Free Streaming Services

UPDATE: Warner Bros. Discovery says some of the content it’s pulling off of HBO Max will wind up on free video-streaming services.

The company says it will license select content to free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services as “part of a packaged offering.” It didn’t specify which ones, but FAST services include Tubi, Amazon Freevee, and Crackle, plus the services found via smart TV and media streamer interfaces, like The Roku Channel.

These shows are confirmed as going to FAST services, though HBO didn’t say when:

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

Warner Bros. Discovery also says it will pull the following shows off HBO Max in the coming days, but they are not yet guaranteed to show up on FAST services. “HBO Max is speaking with the studio partners about opportunities to further expand the reach of the shows, including but not limited to licensing the series to third party FAST platforms,” the company said.
 
Gordita Chronicles – season 1
Love Life – seasons 1, 2
Made for Love – seasons 1, 2
The Garcias – season 1
Minx – seasons 1, 2

Original Story:
One-time HBO darling Westworld is reportedly getting scrubbed from HBO Max.

A number of entertainment news outlets, including Variety(Opens in a new window) and Deadline(Opens in a new window), confirmed the show’s back catalog will be cleared from the streaming platform this week—less than three months after the now-canceled series aired its season four finale.

Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy and produced by J.J. Abrams, Westworld debuted in 2016, capturing HBO’s highest viewership ratings for a premiere since True Detective two years earlier. The show, based on the 1973 film of the same name written and directed by Michael Crichton, begins in the fictional Westworld, a technologically advanced Wild West-themed amusement park populated by android “hosts.”

Despite early praise from critics and audiences, the show’s fourth season, which concluded this summer, saw a drop in ratings. It November, HBO announced that it had canceled the series.

Victorian-era sci-fi drama The Nevers—which aired part one of its first season in spring 2021 and planned to drop part two next year—has also been pulled from HBO Max. There may still be hope for the back half of the Laura Donnelly and Ann Skelly-led season, according to Variety, which suggested the finished episodes could air on another platform.

This is the latest in ongoing fallout from the consolidation of HBO Max and Discovery+ into a combined service under the umbrella of Warner Bros. Discovery. Culling lesser-watched programs (like the 42 titles already dropped this year) makes way for new content and helps the studio save on residuals—union-negotiated payments received by writers, actors, directors, etc., when their movie, TV show, or online production airs in reruns or is used in a different medium.

HBO Max already removed several series, including Vinyl, Camping, Mrs. Fletcher, Run, Here and Now, At Home With Amy Sedaris, Generation, Infinity Train, 12 Dates of Christmas, Aquaman: King of Atlantis; The Fungies!, Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness, and Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs. Not to mention more than 200 classic episodes of Sesame Street.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s continued thinning of its library isn’t exactly a surprise: CEO David Zaslav, whose post-pandemic approach to entertainment focuses on theatrical releases over streaming originals, previously shelved DC Comics movie Batgirl and Scoob! Sequel Holiday Haunt—both produced exclusively for HBO Max.

The streaming service, meanwhile, tied with Netflix this week for the most 2023 Golden Globe Awards nominations(Opens in a new window), earning 14 noms each. Major contenders include White Lotus (four nods), Hacks (three), Barry and House of the Dragon (two each), as well as Euphoria, The Staircase, and The Flight Attendant, with one nomination per program.