HBO Max has canceled the kids animated series Little Ellen ahead of its Season 3 premiere.
The series explored the world through the eyes of a seven-year-old Ellen DeGeneres. The already-completed third season was set to air in June before being delayed. The cancelation, which was announced at the start of the month, leaves the third season unreleased.
The cancelation followed the news that the streamer had axed its coming-of-age comedy series Gordita Chronicles and shelved the nearly complete $90 million feature Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, a follow-up to the 2020 film Scoob. The former reflected HBO Max’s decision to move away from live-action kids and family programming in its immediate future, while the decision to not release Batgirl stemmed from executives not wanting to release a movie the studio doesn’t believe in and a strategic shift in leadership.
Cancelations and shelving of nearly-completed or already-completed content are just the tip of the iceberg of changes afoot at HBO Max.
The streamer has quietly pulled TV shows and films from its streaming library over the past few weeks, with more cuts coming as Warner Bros. Discovery plans to merge its two streaming services–HBO Max and Discovery+–by the summer of 2023. In addition, Warner Bros. films are no longer guaranteed to be released on HBO Max 45 days after their theatrical release, reversing course on a practice common since the first half of the year.
And, as of Monday, Casey Bloys, chief content officer for HBO Max, has reportedly laid off 14%—about 70 employees—from his teams to reduce costs under the mandate of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to find $3 billion in savings.