Sesame Street Looking for New Home After Warner Bros. Passes on Renewing the Series

Sesame Street and Warner Bros. Discovery are parting ways, and now the beloved children’s program and its adorable cast will be taking up shop elsewhere. Warner Bros. Discovery has opted not to renew its deal with the show (via THR), which is part of a larger pivot away from children’s programming overall for the company. Sesame Street and WBD entered a five-year deal back in 2019 that moved the show to Max (which was HBO Max at the time), but the 55th season will be the last one to premiere there.

It’s not known when season 55 will debut just yet, but there will actually be Sesame Street content on the service for a little while yet. Max will continue to license episodes from Sesame Street’s library through the year 2027, so while new episodes won’t premiere there after season 55, fans can still access past content for a few more years.

“It has been a wonderful, creative experience working with everyone at ‘Sesame Street’ on the iconic children’s series, and we are thrilled to be able to keep some of the library series on Max in the U.S,” said a spokesperson for Max in a statement. “As we’ve launched Max though and based on consumer usage and feedback, we’ve had to prioritize our focus on stories for adults and families, and so new episodes from ‘Sesame Street,’ at this time, are not as core to our strategy.”

As for Sesame Street, the show is excited to continue its relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery through 2027, but it is also now looking for a new partner for its flagship show. All we know of season 56 to this point is that the show is looking to reimagine itself a bit with a bigger focus on narrative, but what that will look like remains to be seen.

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“We are excited to extend our 10-year partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, keeping ‘Sesame Street’s’ iconic library available on Max through 2027,” a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop said in a statement. “We will continue to invest in our best-in-class programming and look forward to announcing our new distribution plans in the coming months, ensuring that ‘Sesame Street’ reaches as many children as possible for generations to come.”

Right now every episode still airs on PBS well after it premieres on Max, but that will obviously change after season 55. There will be several other players that would welcome the extensive library and brand name that Sesame Street brings with it, and you have to think that is especially true of companies like Netflix and Prime Video, who already avidly invest in children’s programming. Either one would love to have new episodes of one of the premiere children shows ever and the huge library it would also likely have, though it’s not known if WBD’s licensing deal into 2027 would affect the library in any way.

Where would you like to see Sesame Street land next? You can talk all things TV with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb and on Bluesky @knightofoa!