6 Original HBO Max Shows That Were Removed Forever

When Warner Bros. and Discovery merged in 2023, the team behind CEO David Zaslav opted to remove several original series from HBO and HBO Max off of the company’s streaming service.

All the series mentioned were removed for a tax credit or licensed to free, ad-supported streaming services. Several of the series are no longer watchable. Here are six of the biggest ones.

Westworld

The most shocking casualty of the WBS merger was one of HBO’s biggest 2010s series. The first season of Westworld, the sci-fi series about a futuristic Wild West-themed amusement park filled with several android “hosts,” was HBO’s most-watched series until The Last of Us premiered in 2023. While the series’ reputation declined as it went on, it still won several Emmys across its four-season run. WBD opted not to keep one of HBO’s biggest originals on the streamer and instead sold the series to ad-supported streamer Tubi.

Vinyl

This short-lived but much-loved drama series from Martin Scorsese, Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger, and Terence Winter (who was a lead writer for The Sopranos and created Boardwalk Empire) was a critical hit when it premiered in 2016. Bobby Cannavale plays a NYC-based record executive in 1973 struggling to keep his label afloat as rock n’ roll is supplanted by disco and punk music. HBO’s decision to cancel the series was surprising; even more surprising is that there’s nowhere to watch it legally today.

Infinity Train

This animated sci-fi thriller series, from one of the creators of Cartoon Network’s massive hit series Regular Show, was even more popular than its progenitor. Each season—full of all-star voice talent from other HBO series, like J.K. Simmons and Ben Mendelsohn—is set on a gigantic, seemingly endless train, where a character moves from car to car overcoming personal challenges that help them resolve their psychological trauma. HBO Max’s leadership was concerned that the series appealed much more to adults than to children, given the subject matter, and axed the series. As of today, there is nowhere to watch or even purchase the show.

Raised by Wolves

Another sci-fi series with big-name talent attached, this show from Alien director Ridley Scott and Prisoners (2013) screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski was another casualty of the WBD merger. Two androids are tasked with raising the remaining human children on a faraway planet after Earth is destroyed by a massive war. It ran for two seasons, and was removed from HBO Max in December 2022.

Genera+ion

This coming-of-age drama series, set in Orange County, California as a group of high school students explore their sexuality and figure out their future goals while challenging the beliefs of their deeply conservative local community. It jump-started the career of many of Hollywood’s current rising stars, like Chase Sui Wonders and Justice Smith. As with many of the other series, it is not available to watch anywhere legally.

The Time Traveler’s Wife

Yet another big series with big names that has since disappeared from any legal streaming service was The Time Traveler’s Wife. The series is based on Audrey Niffenegger’s 2003 novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into a popular film in 2009. This version, from Doctor Who (2005) creator Steven Moffat, starred Theo James and Rose Leslie. In the series, Henry (James) has a genetic disorder which causes him to travel backwards in time, and Claire (Leslie) meets an older version of Henry as a girl—who tells her they will marry in the future.