HBO Max Cancels Animated Series Despite New Season Being Completely Finished

Another project at HBO Max has been completely cancelled even though it's nearly finished with Deadline bringing word that Ellen DeGeneres' animated show Little Ellen will not air its planned third season. According to the trade Little Ellen is yet another project that is set to be written off by the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery, seemingly done for the tax benefits of scrapping the show entirely rather than attempting to recoup costs by releasing it. The same thing was done yesterday with the Batgirl movie as well as a planned sequel to Scoob! Season three of Little Ellen was reportedly already completed.

It probably shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that Little Ellen has been cancelled as HBO Max confirmed over the weekend that family-friendly and live-action kids programming was no longer going to be in their content plans, but the ferocity with which content has been completely shelved has taken many by surprise. HBO Max revealed this in a statement over the weekend when it was confirmed that TV series Gordita Chronicles had been cancelled, flat out saying: "Live-action kids and family programming will not be part of our programming focus in the immediate future." 

Subscribers to HBO Max have become increasingly worried about the direction of the streamer now that measures are being taken to remove content and scrap it entirely before it can premiere. It had long been confirmed that HBO Max and Discovery+ would merge in some way after the two companies came together but it appears the two streaming services becoming one will come at the cost of a lot of programming that fans are already attached to. Viewers are now on high alert as to whether their favorite shows will be released at all or unceremoniously cancelled by another mega-media merger.

Little Ellen is a 2D animated children's show that explores the world through the eyes of a hilarious and unpredictable seven-year-old Ellen DeGeneres. On her adventures in her musical hometown of New Orleans, Little Ellen takes big risks and makes big mistakes, but she's always able to laugh at herself and bounce back when things don't go as planned. The series was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Ellen Digital Ventures. DeGeneres, Kevin A. Leman II, and Sam Register serve as executive producers. Jennifer Skelly is a co-executive producer and Jason Blackman is a producer.