Harry Potter, Welcome to Derry & others move from Max to HBO in strategy change

Per Variety, HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys is “changing the delineation” between an HBO show and a Max show. In a tentpole strategy change, many of the big-budget, tentpole projects which were developed for Max will move to HBO, including the Harry Potter series, the It prequel series Welcome to Derry, and the new Green Lantern series.

Previously, all shows that were based on Warner Bro. IP fell under the Max umbrella, which felt like the most obvious way to separate the label from HBO. “We felt like we had to delineate between an HBO show and a Max show,” Bloys said. “The idea of using Warner Bros. IP as a delineation for Max felt right. At least that gives you a clear lane. But as we started producing those shows, we were using the same methods, the same kind of thinking, as how we would approach HBO shows. In a lot of cases, the same talent that has worked on HBO shows.“

Bloy continued: “What we ended up with is shows at this scope and scale that look great, and great narratives and talent we’ve worked with. The idea of the delineation kind of started to feel unnecessary. Like, why are we doing this? Let’s just call them what they are: HBO shows.” The change will take effect in 2025, which means that some upcoming shows, such as Dune: Prophecy and The Penguin, are still expected to be labelled as Max originals. For Harry Potter, Welcome to Derry, and the other shows moving to HBO, this means that they’ll run on the linear network as well as streaming on Max.

So, you can expect any big-budget show to land at HBO. “For a show that feels big and cinematic, they already are going to make the assumption that it feels like an HBO show,” Bloys said. “This is just leaning into that.” Max will be home to shows more similar to what you’d find on broadcast television. Bloys said this feels “like a much more natural delineation of what we’re trying to do with Max versus HBO… Typically, the production budget allows you to do more episodes. There’s closed-ended storytelling per episode, which is not typically what you would see in an HBO show.“