HBO Max axes Minx, Love Life, The Nevers and pulls more content amid WBD cuts

Production of comedy series Minx S2 is almost complete

Streaming service HBO Max has cancelled a trio of projects – sci-fi drama The Nevers and comedy series Minx and Love Life – as parent company Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) continues to make cuts across the business.

In addition to the cancellations, The Nevers and recently axed HBO original Westworld will be pulled off the streaming service.

The cuts are taking place in the context of WBD’s pursuit of around US$3.5bn in savings following the completion of WarnerMedia’s merger with Discovery in April.

In the case of Minx, created by Ellen Rapoport and produced by Lionsgate Television, the cancellation represents a reversal of a renewal decision taken earlier in the year. The news comes with production of season two almost complete and Lionsgate is now looking to find a new home for the show.

“I am obviously disappointed that Minx (along with several other shows yet to be announced) is leaving HBO Max,” tweeted Rapoport earlier this week. “I’m proud of the show we’ve made and am confident that the audience will come with us to our new home. Thank you to the best cast and crew in the business.”

Meanwhile, Love Life, the anthology romcom starring Anna Kendrick, was awaiting a renewal decision. The first half of The Nevers S1 had aired in spring 2021 and the second half had been scheduled to launch in 2023.

The show cancellations have come thick and fast in recent months, including the high-profile scrapping of the Batgirl movie, despite the fact the project was in post-production and had already cost around US$90m.

Dozens of projects have also been removed from HBO Max as WBD looks to cut costs ahead of the launch of the combined HBO Max/Discovery+ streamer next year.

WBD president and CEO David Zaslav has previously said that the decision to pull shows from HBO Max is part of a broader strategy to go back to the drawing board to figure out which shows work best for audiences.

“All those write-offs, where we took shows off these platforms, we didn’t take one show off a platform that was going to help us in any way,” he said last month. “It’s going to help us to get it off the platform, so that we can replace those shows with content that has a chance to be more successful. We’re reallocating the capital.”