Update: HBO Max has confirmed that it will remove more than 30 titles from its streaming service, including Ellen’s Next Great Designer. As confirmed by Variety, the reality series that has furniture designers compete to take home $100,000 will no longer be available to watch on the platform with no word on where it will end up (if any).
"As we work toward bringing our content catalogues together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and Discovery Plus. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms,” a statement from the company reads.
Original Story: Warner Bros. has cancelled Little Ellen from US comedian and former talk show host Ellen DeGeneres less than 12 months after it debuted on HBO Max.
As reported by Deadline, the animated series that was aimed at preschoolers has been scrapped after two seasons, even though work on its third was said to have been completed. A release date for season three was noted as being sometime in June, however, was pushed back earlier this year with the show now not returning at all.
Little Ellen is loosely based on the early life of Ellen DeGeneres with Laurel Emory voicing a seven-year-old version of Ellen. 20 episodes have been produced across both seasons, running for approximately 11 minutes apiece. It was made under a three-part deal by DeGeneres and Warner Bros. that resulted in Ellen's Home Design Challenge and First Dates Hotel.
T3 has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment.
The decision looks to be part of the Warner Bros. Discovery merge, which most notably saw the company cancel Batgirl after already spending $90 million on the project. Since Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zazlav took the reins, it seems as if nothing is safe with multiple projects scrapped in the past week. Deadline also revealed that the reality TV series, The Big D, was also axed altogether a couple of weeks ahead of its premiere.
The reasons for this have been reported to WB being able to write these off for tax reasons, allowing the firm to waive the costs (or as its known "purchase accounting"). The opportunity to do this is then mentioned to expire by mid-August, hence why so many have happened in such a short space of time.
Little Ellen stars Laurel Emory, Johanna Colón, JeCobi Swain and June Squibb. The first two seasons are available to watch on HBO Max in the US now.
HBO Max isn't the only streamer that has put an end to several shows prematurely with Netflix cancelling more than a dozen shows in 2022 so far – including First Kill which only lasted a season on the platform.
