After reports circulated that “Westworld,” among other titles, would soon be pulled off HBO Max, the company sent out an announcement via email yesterday confirming the sad news. Westworld isn’t the only show to get the axe.
More than a dozen shows will leave the streaming service in the coming days, including “The Nevers,” “Raised by Wolves,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” “Love Life,” “Made for Love,” “Minx” and more.
However, there’s a silver lining. Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been canceling shows left and right, plans to license 13 of its HBO/HBO Max originals to third-party free ad-supported streaming (FAST) services. While HBO Max subscribers will no longer have access to these titles, they won’t be disappearing forever. And now you won’t have to pay $9.99/month to stream them.
HBO Max series switching to FAST services:
- Westworld: seasons 1 through 4
- The Nevers: season 1
- Finding Magic Mike: season 1
- Head of the Class: season 1
- The Time Traveler’s Wife: season 1
- Raised by Wolves: seasons 1-2
- FBOY Island: seasons 1-2
- Legendary: seasons 1-3
The remaining titles — “Gordita Chronicles” (S1), “The Garcias” (S1), “Love Life” (S1, S2), “Made for Love” (S1, S2) and “Minx” (S1, S2) — are not guaranteed to have new streaming homes. However, WBD is in talks with studio partners to license the shows to either FAST platforms or other streaming services.
It’s likely these shows were the least-watched HBO Max titles, so it makes sense why Warner Bros. Discovery removed them. Viewership ratings for “Westworld” continued to decline over the years, with the third season finale only getting 1.8 million viewers — about an 18% drop from the season two finale.
WBD didn’t say which free ad-supported streaming service will get “Westworld” and other HBO originals. Popular streaming services in the FAST market include Peacock, Pluto TV, Tubi, The Roku Channel and Amazon Freevee.
The company also noted that, in 2023, it would provide more details about its own FAST offering. Earlier this summer, CEO David Zaslav mentioned the company’s plans for a free ad-supported streaming service. There’s a possibility that its own FAST platform could offer the above 13 titles.