WBD unveils combined streamer Max with new Game of Thrones, Harry Potter in works

Fantasty drama Game of Thrones

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) confirmed on Wednesday that its combined HBO Max-Discovery+ streamer will be called Max, set to launch on May 23 in the US, and revealed a bumper slate of new programming including spin-off shows from Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and The Big Bang Theory.

In the US, the new service will be priced at US$9.99 for the ad-supported tier and US$15.99 for the ad-free version, the same price as the existing HBO Max product.

During an hour-long presentation held on the Warner Bros lot in LA, WBD execs David Zaslav (president and CEO), JB Perrette (CEO and president of global streaming), Casey Bloys (chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content) and Kathleen Finch (chairman and chief content officer, US Networks Group) outlined how the combination of the HBO Max and Discovery+ would work and pulled back the curtain on a raft of new programming.

The Game of Thrones prequel series, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, will be written and executive produced by George RR Martin and Ira Parker. The project is set 100 years prior to the events of the initial Game of Thrones series and follows a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Ryan Condal and Vince Gerardis are exec producers.

The Harry Potter series is described as a “faithful adaptation” of JK Rowlings’ book series, with the UK author attached to executive produce. WBD said Rowlings’ Harry Potter books will be turned into a “decade-long series,” with each season recreating one of the novels. The Max original comes from Brontë Film & TV and Warner Bros Television, with David Heyman, who produced all eight of the Harry Potter movies, in talks to executive produce.

Also in development with Max is a comedy series deriving from popular half-hour comedy The Big Bang Theory, with Chuck Lorre developing and exec producing. Plot details are currently under wraps. The in-development project marks the second Big Bang Theory spin-off series after Young Sheldon, which was previously renewed for a seventh season.

Popular horror franchise The Conjuring is also getting the TV treatment, with WBD announcing a new series based on the billion-dollar property. Peter Safran will serve as an executive producer on the project, which is in development at Warner Bros Television. Filmmaker James Wan is also in talks to executive produce.

On the unscripted side, WBD announced several new series that will be produced by its portfolio of factual brands and also be available on the Max streaming service.

Those include TLC’s dating show Love & Translation, which sees three American men and twelve international women travel across the world to live and look for love on a remote paradise island. The project is produced by Sony Pictures Television-backed Sharp Entertainment, the prodco behind 90 Day Fiance.

Other new unscripted shows include HGTV’s four-part Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge, hosted by Ashley Graham, which sees eight teams of HGTV superstars transform a southern California home into a real-life Barbie Dreamhouse; Discovery Channel’s Survive the Raft; Magnolia Network’s Fixer Upper: The Hotel; and Investigation Discovery’s Lost Women of Highway 20.

Several projects that were initially developed for Discovery+ will now be Max originals, including car-restoration series Downey’s Dream Cars led by Robert Downey Jr; six-part docuseries SmartLess: On The Road, which follows Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes as they take their popular podcast on tour; and a three-part docuseries from Olympic snowboarder Shaun White.

In addition to these projects, Finch said WBD’s unscripted teams are “finalising” a new slate of titles that will be revealed in due course.

Elsewhere, Cartoon Network and Max greenlit an animated rendition of the musical Peter and the Wolf, featuring music and narration by Gavin Friday and artwork based on original illustrations by U2 frontman Bono; Cartoon Network commissioned Tiny Toons Looniversity; and Max ordered the animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television in association with Warner Bros Animation.

During the presentation, Bloys emphasised that the launch of the new streaming product would not fundamentally alter the HBO brand.

“Our streaming service may have a new name but HBO has not and is not changing course at all,” he said. “Whether it be drama, comedy, documentaries or late-night and specials, the programming teams are led by creative executives that I’ve had the honour of working with for going on 20 years, and they continue to deliver some of the most thought-provoking, enjoyable and award-winning shows around.”

WBD also previewed several previously ordered HBO original dramas: espionage thriller and cultural satire The Sympathizer, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and starring Robert Downey Jr; True Detective: Night Country, the fourth instalment of the popular HBO series, starring Jodie Foster and Kali Reis; and limited series The Regime (fka The Palace), starring Kate Winslet and directed by Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobbs.

Throughout the presentation, WBD execs stressed that the goal of the combined offering – and the primary thesis of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger – is to give audiences a broader offering that combines must-see premium dramas and lean-back unscripted content.

“Max is where consumers can finally say ‘here’s a service that not only has something for everybody in my household, but something great for everybody in my household,’” said Perrette.

“This new brand signals an important change from two narrower products, HBO Max and Discovery+, to our broader content offering and consumer proposition,” said Perrette. “While each product offered something for some people, Max will have a broad array of quality choices for everybody.”