Minx canceled by HBO Max despite getting season 2 renewal and streaming service will remove season 1

Comedy series Minx has been canceled by HBO Max despite already being renewed for season 2 back in May.

The show – which centers around a publication of an erotic magazine aimed at women –  was preparing to wrap production on the second season when Warner Bros. Discovery decided to scrap it according to sources for Variety on Monday.

The media conglomerate – which recently axed Wonder Woman 3 – has famously been cutting costs since WarnerMedia and Discovery merged earlier this year and it appears that Minx was the latest example of that.

One very interesting thing to note is that the publication also reports that the first season of the series will be taken off the streaming service HBO Max as producer Lionsgate Television is planning to shop the series to other outlets.

Lionsgate said in a statement to the site: ‘We have enjoyed a good partnership with HBO Max and are working closely to find a new opportunity for Minx, so current, and new viewers, can continue this journey with us.’

Minx was created by Ellen Rapoport and stars Ophelia Lovibond, Jake Johnson, Jessica Lowe, Michael Angarano, Oscar Montoya, Idara Victor, Lennon Parham, and Trishna.

It is set in Los Angeles back in the 1970s as ‘earnest young femist’ Joyce (Lovibond) joins forces with low-rent publisher Doug (Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women.

It was a hit with the critics as it currently has a 97percent on film review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.

This seems to be the latest cost-cutting move for the company as last month WarnerBros Discovery CEO David Zaslav said HBO lost $3 billion last year after the company spent almost $7 billion on content.

Speaking at RBC’s global investment conference on Tuesday, November 15 Zaslav said the company would have to make serious changes to hit its projected $12 billion earnings for 2023, adding that ‘it’s going to be hard’ to reach the goal.

In its latest earnings report, the company said it missed out on $2.3 billion over a decrease in licensing and distribution revenue from its streaming service, signaling a drop in demand over its vast library.

As HBO Max prepares to merge with Discovery+ next year, Zaslav said the company plans to sell off some of its shows to cut costs.

The CEO said: ‘We looked at [HBO Max] and we said, ‘Most of this is not being watched. Or, we don’t think anybody is subscribing because of this.’

‘We can sell it non-exclusively to somebody else,’ he added. ‘Look at this huge library that we have.’

It comes as the streaming service is set to put more focus on in-house programing, like Game of Thrones’ House of the Dragon, after shelving other projects, like the $90 million Batgirl film.

WarnerBros Discovery CEO David Zaslav (pictured) said HBO lost $3billion last year after splurging $7billion on content 

Although Zaslav did not say which shows were going to be on the chopping block, he said the streaming service is being ‘sized up,’ and that low-rated shows and bigger budget movies made only for the streaming service would be the first to go.

The CEO reaffirmed that the cuts to save his company money would fall on HBO, which went from making more than $2billion in revenue in 2019 to losing about $3billion as content spending surged.

‘It’s messier than we thought, it’s much worse than we thought,’ Zaslav said of HBO and Discovery’s merger.

It comes as Zaslav continues to come up with ways to find $3billion in savings by the end of the year while shifting focus on the streaming service to in-house programing , like Game of Thrones’ House of the Dragon (above)