The world is currently mourning the unclear future of one of the great streaming services—HBO Max—amidst its ongoing merger with Discovery+. This week, HBO Max is reportedly removing 36 titles from the streaming service, including 20 of its own productions, which is the largest dump in recent history.
HBO Max is widely regarded as a streaming service with a portfolio of exceptional quality content—see shows like Our Flag Means Death, Euphoria, and Peacemaker, for example. When head of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav announced earlier this month that HBO Max would merge with Discovery+, fans were rightly concerned about what could happen to some of their most beloved content. The blood bath of axed content began a few weeks ago as shows like Snowpiercer and movies like Moonshot were pulled from HBO Max, and this week the streamer is dumping 36 titles—the largest purge we’ve seen so far—according to a report from Variety.
“As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+,” HBO Max says, as quoted by Variety. “That will include the removal of some content from both platforms.”
20 of these titles are HBO Max originals, and are primarily unscripted reality/talk shows or animation series. HBO Max removing their own content is a bit of a paradox as they’ll be unavailable on the platform that they were created for with no clear indication of where they’re headed—if anywhere. This has understandably upset some series creators, like Summer Camp Island creator Julia Pott, who tweeted: “Animation is not nothing!”
When Gizmodo asked HBO Max why the service is removing their own content, they explained in a statement that: “[W]e’re already starting to bring our content catalogs together like the launch of the new CNN Originals Hub on discovery+ and a curated collection of Magnolia Network content coming soon to HBO Max.” It’s a promising quote, indicating that this content will likely shuffle to a new service, but in the meantime these shows are in limbo. Until they find a new home, here’s a list of some of the HBO Max murders that hurt the most, followed by all 36 titles that will be removed from the service.
While the pulling of these shows isn’t great news for their loyal viewers, it appears the streaming service does want to keep viewership up. On Thursday, HBO Max launched a limited-time discount for both new and returning customers. The offer would mean over 40% in savings when they prepay for a yearly subscription plan by October 30.