HBO Max Will Become Just 'Max' in May 2023

As noted for a year now, Discovery Networks' merger with Warner Brothers was a significant move in the streaming wars. HBO Max, the poorly named rush job of an inclusive streamer designed to compete with Disney+ and Netflix, was now under the eye of the company which launched Discovery+, a niche reality series-aimed offering with one of the best interfaces out there. The two are being pushed together into one better-designed, easier-to-navigate service, with many of HBO Max's under-the-hood problems fixed. But for the average Anglophile, will the new service, now called Max, be worth the money when it launches in May 2023?

There's good news and bad news on that front. Let's start with the bad. As we have already reported, HBO Max, or just Max, isn't going to keep failed HBO shows as exclusives and will be shipping them off to FAST networks like Tubi. The streaming service has also been on a canceling spree, shutting down European production studios. The fates of series fans love on HBO Max, like The Great Pottery Throwdown, I Hate Suzie, the original version of BBC's Ghosts, and others, are up in the air. Other shows, like Our Flag Means Death, are probably toast if HBO does now decide to rescue them.

But that doesn't mean you should start reaching for the cancelation button. Despite being dropped from the service's name, HBO will still have all its programming on Max. That will be the only place its new shows are streamed, so for most of us looking to watch Rain Dogs Season 1, The Gilded Age Season 2, Industry Season 3, and other HBO-BBC co-productions, the new Max service will be a must-have. As proof of HBO's continued presence on Max (and promises of being easy to find on the homepage), the Max presentation included the first trailer for Kate Winslet's new HBO series, initially dubbed The Palace, and is now called The Regime.