Westworld Streaming, Love Life and The Nevers Decay: What Comes After the HBO Max / Warner Bros. Discovery Deal?
It’s currently not clear when Westworld will be removed from Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming service, but it likely won’t be alone. Love Life and The Nevers will need to find new homes according to the reports.
When we checked on Monday evening, all three shows were still available on the service. IndieWire points out a tweet from Gordita Chronicles creator Claudia Forestieri indicating this past weekend would be the last one for her show (which is also still streaming, for now), so the ax could fall very soon.
The company is undergoing a financial review, and the cut is believed to be going to other company platforms. Variety claims that WBD saves money as they cut off payments to the cast and crew.
It was obvious before the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger was completed that HBO Max was in for some rough waters, and before the deal was even done executives were telling investors about how they would be looking for.
Since then, we have seen dozens of movies and shows canned, as well as Sesame Street being taken off of streaming and a Batgirl project being canned. It was one of the tentpole shows of the era when a lot of people were interested in Serious Entertainment and a lot of them still liked Game of thrones, so I don’t think many would have guessed that it would go away.
WBD has decided not to include any more content write-offs as it gears up for the launch of two new channels, ie, Discovery will replace HBO Max later this spring. But Zaslav’s WBD is one that operates like a business focused on profit above anything else, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the write-offs were actually over just yet.
“That was very important to all of us, to really use 2022 to leave the purchase accounting behind us, leave those initial strategy changes behind us, get it all out there in terms of our restructuring estimates and then be able to turn the page forward,” Wiedendels said. “I think the team has laid a great foundation, and I’m really excited about the growth from here.”