WarnerMedia’s long-awaited HBO Max streaming service will release in May 2020, and customers will be getting a bevy of content for their $14.99 per month subscription.
Though the platform will offer an array of library content from brands ranging from Warner Bros. to TNT, TBS, and Cartoon Network, it will also be home to a variety of original projects. Although the AT&T-owned service is expected to offer a little something for everyone, its early content slate seems focused on younger audiences, such as millennials, Gen Z, and families with young children.
While release dates for most HBO Max originals are still under wraps, there’s plenty of reason to get excited about some of the big franchises and star power that will define HBO Max’s originals. Here’s 15 original projects that will be making their way to the platform:
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“Gossip Girl” spinoff
Image Credit: Andrew Eccles/Cw Network/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock “Gossip Girl” is one of several popular franchises that is getting rebooted on HBO Max. The new series will focus on a fresh set of elite New York teens who rely on the all-knowing Gossip Girl blog. The show will offer a topical take on social media and how it has changed social interactions.
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“The Boondocks”
Image Credit: Adult Swim The Peabody Award-winning animated comedy is getting a two-season revival on HBO Max in fall 2020, and all 55 episodes of the original series will be available on the streaming service when it launches. The new series will follow the adventures of self-proclaimed “Civil Rights Legend” Robert “Granddad” Freeman and his two rambunctious grandsons, Huey and Riley.
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“Tokyo Vice”
Image Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock After Michael Mann directs the pilot episode, Destin Daniel Cretton is taking over directing the HBO Max adaption of “Tokyo Vice.” The drama series, which stars Ansel Elgort and will also feature Ken Watanabe, will follow a journalist’s daily descent into Tokyo’s underbelly; Mann will be EP of the series. The show is based on Jake Adelstein’s novel of the same name. Pictured: Destin Daniel Cretton
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“Dune: The Sisterhood”
Image Credit: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP/Shutterstock The “Dune” revival includes a new television series led by Denis Villeneuve, which will be based off the 2012 “Sisterhood of Dune” novel. Although few specifics have been revealed about the project, the original sci-fi book centers on the founding of Bene Gesserit, a mysterious order of women, while a violent technophobic movement surges through the universe. Pictured: Denis Villeneuve
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“The Flight Attendant”
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Kaley Cuoco will star in and executive produce the series, which centers on a flight attendant (Cuoco) who wakes up in a hotel next to a dead man with no idea what happened. Cuoco has an overall deal with WarnerMedia, and it’s possible that “The Flight Attendant” will be the first of several HBO Max projects that “Big Bang” vet Cuoco is involved in. Pictured: Kaley Cuoco
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“Raised by Wolves”
Image Credit: Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock Ridley Scott’s “Raised by Wolves” will focus on two androids who raise human children on a mysterious planet, and marks Scott’s serialized TV debut as a director. Aaron Guzikowski, who wrote the film “Prisoners,” created the 10-episode drama and serves as showrunner and writer for the project, which recently wrapped production in Cape Town, South Africa. Pictured: Ridley Scott
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“Rap Sh*t” (Working Title)
Image Credit: Rob Latour/REX/Shutterstock Issa Rae’s “Rap Sh*t” (working title) will follow a female rap group from outside Miami as they try to make it in the music industry. Rae, Montrel McKay, Jonathan Berry, and Dave Becky will executive produce the series and Rae will write the pilot. Pictured: Issa Rae
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“Green Lantern” project
Image Credit: Shutterstock/Warner Bros. A Green Lantern-based project is one of two DC Comics properties that Greg Berlanti is working on for HBO Max…and that’s about all the details currently available for the project. Plenty of eyes will be on this particular adaption of the superpowered police officers from outer space, given the infamously poor reception of the Ryan Reynolds-led 2011 “Green Lantern” film. Pictured: “Green Lantern” (2011)
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“Heaven’s Gate”
Image Credit: Daniel Bergeron Clay Tweel will create a four-part documentary about Heaven’s Gate, the Southern California cult that participated in a mass suicide that killed 39 of its members in 1997. WarnerMedia has had a particularly successful year in the documentary space, as HBO’s “Chernobyl” won 10 Emmys.
Pictured: Clay Tweel
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Conan O’Brien-backed comedy specials
Image Credit: Erik Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock Most streaming services have tapped comedians for various stand-up specials, and HBO Max subscribers will get their laughs from Conan O’Brien-backed specials. Although O’Brien will reportedly host two of the specials that will feature up-and-coming comics, it’s unclear if he will star in his own stand-up specials for the streaming service.
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“Sesame Street” projects
Image Credit: Sesame Workshop Starting with Season 51, new episodes of “Sesame Street” will debut on HBO Max and later air for free on PBS Kids. HBO Max is getting several other “Sesame Street” projects, including “The Not Too Late Show with Elmo” and “Mecha Builders” (working title), a spinoff about “Sesame Street” characters and giant robots.
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New “Looney Tunes” shorts
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Eighty 11-minute shorts featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and the other classic “Looney Tunes” characters will exclusively stream on HBO Max. The service will also host 250 of the franchise’s older shorts.
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“Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai”
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The animated prequel to the classic 1984 comedy horror film will follow Mr. Wing, who sold a Gremlin to Randall Peltzer in the original film, as a child who adventures with his own Gremlin in 1920s Shanghai.
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“Adventure Time: Distant Lands”
Image Credit: Turner The beloved Cartoon Network animated series will live on in the form of four hourlong specials, which will see the protagonists adventure in outer space, stop catastrophes, and help a wizard, among other things.
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Untitled Anthony Bourdain documentary
Image Credit: David Scott Holloway A documentary on late Anthony Bourdain will celebrate the celebrity chef’s life and career. The documentary will get a theatrical release before airing on CNN and HBO Max.
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