Our Flag Means Death and 10 other great original shows Max has brutally canceled
By Dan Selcke
Warrior (Time of Death: December 2023)
This is my personal favorite show on the list. Warrior's journey to Max was a little convoluted. A historical martial arts drama set in San Francisco in the 1870s, Warrior began life on Cinemax, where it ran for two seasons. When Cinemax got rid of all of its original programming, Max picked up the show for what ended up being a third and final season.
What irritates me about Warrior is that no one at Warner Bros. Discovery seemed to want it to succeed. The episodes in season 3 are as blisteringly brilliant as ever — Warrior regularly features fight scenes that punch the teeth out of most of what you'll see at the movies — but they were quietly burned away on Max with nary a bit of promotion. Meanwhile, HBO was airing its reviled show The Idol in its prized Sunday night time slot. You can smell the injustice from three counties over.
Warrior wasn't just an action show; it was a full-bodied adult drama with rich characters, compelling performances and trenchant themes about division and bigotry that could resonate if given a chance. The first three seasons of the show will eventually appear on Netflix, which I hope considers making more episodes.
Infinity Train (Time of Death: August 2022)
Set on a seemingly endless train traveling through a barren landscape, Infinity Train is the brainchild of Owen Dennis, who worked on Cartoon Network's Regular Show. Infinity Train, which also began on Cartoon Network, was gently funny but also dealt with complex themes and followed layered characters. It was for kids but also for everyone. That ambitious mix of tones and genres may have been too much for the executives at Max, because they canned the series after four seasons.
Infinity Train is a special case because the show wasn't just canceled; it was removed from Max entirely, so no one could stream it. About a year later, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery removed it from digital purchase platforms altogether. With no other way to access the series, DVD sales went through the roof.
What happened to Infinity Train highlights an especially troublesome aspect of WBD's behavior: sometimes it doesn't just cancel projects, it obliterates them from the face of the Earth. That's what happened with the Batgirl movie and what almost happened with Coyote vs. Acme. WBD figures it can get more money by erasing these shows and movies completely and writing off the expenses on their taxes rather than paying what it costs to keep them available to Max subscribers. It may make sense on the balance sheet, but it comes off as cruel in a way that will scare away the artists and filmmakers that make subscribing to a service like Max look appealing in the first place. Sometimes shows get canceled — it happens — but to also scrub them from existence is disrespectful and ultimately self-defeating.
