7 Secrets Your MAX Subscription Includes for Free

The days of criticizing the Warner Bros. Discovery-governed streaming service Max are long gone. What originally began as HBO Max, as it was originally just planned to be HBO’s contribution to the streaming wars, eventually got the executives at its parent company thinking. What if we integrated all the properties of content we have and grew it into one massive streaming service? Thus, on May 23rd, 2023, Max was born.

For anyone who still has yet to subscribe to what the streaming giant has to offer, the ad-based plan will cost you $9.99/month, $16.99/month ad-free, and $20.99/month Ultimate Ad-free. You can catch anything DC-related or whatever was recently in theaters from Warner Bros., CNN’s content, an A24 catalog that is unmatched anywhere else, and TCM for the classics. However, there are a few other products on the streaming service that most subscribers don’t do a deep dive into, and none of them costs you a penny more than what you’re already paying. 

Podcasts Centered Around Your Favorite Shows

Just binged The Sopranos for the sixth time in five years? Why not watch the Talking Sopranos Podcast with Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa as they break down their experiences on the show? For superhero lovers, there’s Batman: The Audio Adventures, and die-hard fans of shows like The Last of Us, Succession, Real Sports, and many other HBO originals are all available on podcast platforms and on Max.

There isn’t any other streaming service doing this. Max continued the tradition that HBO had in producing many behind-the-scenes content. Any show that has been a hit for Max, especially if it is on the HBO wing of the platform, has usually gone on to get its own show talking about its making. A podcast is a more affordable way of doing that than producing a thirty-minute documentary about the creative process behind a show.

Almost Every Anthony Bourdain Show

There will never be another Anthony Bourdain. The New York City chef-turned-writer who got the chance to live the world’s greatest life, traveling, eating good food, and producing great travel shows has a home on Max. Just about any show Bourdain was ever on is available to stream on the service, including No Reservations and Parts Unknown. Both shows saw Bourdain travel the world and show us how he viewed it all. 

Bourdain tragically died back in 2018, but his life and his work live on Max. After you’ve binged all of the episodes of his shows, don’t forget to hunker down for two hours and watch the documentary that chronicled his rise to fame all the way to the end in the CNN-backed film Road Runner. The film has never-before-seen footage of Bourdain in his work and throughout his personal life. 

A Lot of Live sports

When HBO Max became just Max, it brought over a ton of great new additions. Although for a bit the streaming service struggled to find its identity, eventually what aided it was none other than live sports. Streaming and video on demand could destroy many elements of cable television; one thing it could not do was live television, and over the last few years, it has started to realize that. As other competitors like Hulu and Netflix have become active in live sports, Max has already been around the block with NHL Hockey, MLB Baseball, and the NBA on its platform since its relaunch. 

With Max being owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, it was smart to take its live sports on networks like TBS and TNT and make them available to live stream over on the platform. Warner Bros. also owns Bleacher Report. A sports news platform that has created a home for itself on Max. However, keep in mind that in this day and age, the bottom dollar counts, and contracts are meant to be broken or not renewed. Warner will lose its television rights to the NBA after this season, which is expected to generate some losses for the company by the start of next year. 

Endless Amount of Triple D

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives put Guy Fieri on the map, all 49 seasons of it. Yeah, you read that right. It’s a show that can take someone who isn’t much of a foodie and turn them into one. It’s arguably one of the most binge-able shows out there, with each episode taking Fieri around the country to your favorite whole in the walls to try their most coveted dish, and every episode, on average, clocks in at around 21 minutes.

People worship the show because you can define American culture by what we eat, and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives is an extreme culture trip from coast to coast and everywhere in between. The show initially began on the Food Network, and with the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery a few years back, that is how it ended up on Max. It’s hard not to enjoy the show. DDD symbolizes how food brings us together and how it not always need to be in a fancy restaurant but more often than not in a place that isn’t too flashy.

All the Random, Weird Adult Swim Shorts that Air at 3 a.m.

Yes, you have heard of Venture Bros., Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and Robot Chicken, but do you remember Mora Orel? How about Home Movies or SuperJail!? Some Adult Swim enthusiasts do, but if you’re going down a wormhole of outrageous late-night shows on Cartoon Network, you may have forgotten about these titles. As time has gone on, some titles have left Max due to contractual issues, but one can hope that China, IL, will return to the streamer soon. Seriously, it’s a show with the voice talents of Hulk Hogan and Greta Gerwig. What more can you ask for? 

One of the real treats of the underseen Adult Swim content on Max is Ambient Swim. If you ever have issues sleeping, be sure to put on one of the episodes. When you pull it up, the show’s description is, “Low-key content and music to help you relax.” It’s nothing short of that. The beautiful visuals and music accompanying it are trippy, sometimes even off-putting, but worth the watch.

All Kinds of Extras for Game of Thrones (and More)

As mentioned above, many shows that HBO produces also get their own podcast. It’s 2025; you should know by now that there is a podcast about everything, especially HBO’s shows. Since its premiere back in 2011, Game of Thrones has done wonders for the network. It has now spawned a successful spinoff in House of the Dragon, which is now two seasons deep. 

It does not stop there with House of the Dragon; alongside the show’s premiere came a behind-the-scenes show titled The House that Dragon Built. Each episode of the docuseries chronicles the making of the spinoff series. Let’s not forget the two-hour film Game of Thrones: The Last Watch. The 2019 film chronicles Game of Thrones‘ final season. So whether you loved how the show ended or not, it’s no doubt worth watching to see all the work that was put into the show. 

Extended and Directors Cuts of Lots of Movies

Max, in some ways, conducts itself like a physical media store of sorts. It’s a streaming service that provides a ton of bonus content for its subscribers. It also has multiple versions of its films available to stream, meaning that there are numerous “directors” or “extended” cuts of films available to watch on there. In some cases, you most likely didn’t know there were different versions of those films floating around.

There are popular alternate cuts like Zack Snyder’s Justice League or the extended version of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and all of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films have extended versions on Max. Then there are films you didn’t think you needed to see that had alternate versions of the film, like Terminator Salvation: Director’s Cut, Straight Outta Compton: Director’s Cut, Fever Pitch: Extended Red Sox Edition, or The Friday the 13th (2009): Extended Killer Cut. It’s been debated that Warner Bros. does not care about the artists they hire, but Max seems to give credit where credit is due in terms of letting filmmakers’ full vision be seen. 

All of these services are currently available on Max.