'Final Space' Creator Lashes out After Reveal Series is Latest HBO Max Casualty

By Daniel S. Levine

Final Space creator Olan Rogers came up with one of the more unique responses to his show being pulled from HBO Max. After learning his Adult Swim series would no longer be available to stream in the U.S. because Warner Bros. Discovery wrote it off for tax purposes, he began selling a shirt reading "Final Space Tax Write Off." The show is only available to stream on Netflix outside the U.S. now.

"Five years of my life. Three seasons of TV. Blood, sweat, and tears... became a tax write-off for the network who owns Final Space," Rogers wrote on Twitter Saturday. "Yup. That's it. That's why it disappeared everywhere in the USA. Five years of work vanished." When Netflix loses the license to stream it internationally, the show will be unavailable. The DVDs of the first two seasons are no longer available and no physical edition of Season 3 was ever released, Rogers noted.

"Your memory of Final Space will be the only proof it ever existed unless you own a copy," the comedian continued. "I've been trying to process how this feels; it's been hard because it's just so absurd. Like a tax write-off, really? Or maybe I've become so numb to bad things happening in my life because of the frequency with which it has been occurring that I didn't really register this sting."

Rogers went on to write that while he understands this was a business decision, Final Space was a very personal project to him. Although people might tell him to move on, he found it impossible to. He is also hoping to revive the show somewhere. "#RenewFinalSpace. It's a banner that you all have been waving, and it's a rallying cry I can stand behind while I continue into this long dark night chasing an ending for this story," Rogers wrote. Rogers also made various #RenewFinalSpace shirts and hats available on his website. One has the show's title, with "Tax Write Off" in bold letters at the bottom.

Final Space launched on TBS in February 2018, but it moved to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block in June 2019. The final season aired in March 2021. In September 2021, Rogers said the show was canceled and blamed the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, which was later completed in April. The series is about astronaut Gary Godspeed (Rogers) and his alien friend Mooncake (also Rogers), who try to save the universe from certain doom. David Tennant, Steven Yeun, Fred Armisen, Ron Funches, Conan O'Brien, and Spongebob Squarepants star Tom Kenny were also members of the voice cast. Rogers also raised over $464,438 on Kickstarter to fund a short film inspired by Final Space.

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