Canceled HBO Series Faces Another Setback to Find New Streaming Home, Despite Season 2 Being Complete

Season two of Minx is done and dusted. Production is just days away from being completed on the show, and it’s just waiting for a release. Unfortunately for the series and its fans, that release keeps getting farther away. The show will be pulled from HBO Max and shopped to other streamers as part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s desperate cost-cutting efforts. If that isn’t bad enough, Minx faces a new hurdle that other shows in a similar position don’t: since HBO doesn’t own it outright, they have to work with Lionsgate TV to find a new home for the project.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Minx was originally going to be dumped on a free, ad-supported television platform that Warner Bros. Discovery is developing. But they don’t have the power to unilaterally make that decision, and now it appears they will be waiting around while Lionsgate TV tries to shop the show instead.

This is a good news/bad news situation for the series’ fans. After all, with Lionsgate essentially wresting control away from Warner Bros. Discovery, there’s an outside chance that the show could be picked up for further seasons. That’s a long shot, but the odds were exactly zero at Warners, so it’s an improvement. On the other hand, it’s hard to guess where the show will end up at this point, and there’s always the chance that in order to see the ending, fans will have to shell out for another, non-free service that they don’t already own.

“We’ve been removed from HBOMax but we’re still finishing the season. So thankfully they didn’t halt production. We’re about a week away from being finished shooting,” Johnson wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday. “From what I am hearing S1 & S2 (and hopefully S3) will find a new home, the question is where. The crew really killed it this season. @blakemcclure crushed as DP. The set design/wardrobe/everything. It was truly impressive & worth watching. I am eager to find a new platform for these episodes,” he continued. “We appreciate all the online support. We love making the show and hope to continue to. It’s a crazy business & that’s partly what’s so additive about it. So hopefully we have good news to share soon.”

Minx is set in 1970s Los Angeles and centers around Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond), an earnest young feminist who joins forces with a low-rent publisher (Jake Johnson) to create the first erotic magazine for women.

The series boasts a 97% “fresh” rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, who credit the great chemistry between Lovibond and Johnson (two actors who are pretty likable anyway) and a light, fun approach to heavy issues. Its audience score is in the 30s, although it’s hard to tell how much of that is genuine antipathy and how much of it is a coordinated campaign to “downvote” the show, as most of the reviews are virtually identical and just focus on “male nudity is bad.”

You can catch the first season of Minx on HBO Max for a few more days. Keep your eyes on the headlines to see where season two lands.