WarnerMedia is about to launch its own streaming service titled HBO Max in May and they’ve already announced some interesting shows such as Dune: The Sisterhood (connected to Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming film) and Greg Berlanti’s live-action Green Lantern series.
While I think it is awesome they’ll be tackling original programming and including stuff like HBO shows including the upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff House of The Dragon (eventually), I have some ideas of where they could go with other television shows for HBO Max based on existing studio IP.
THE MATRIX
Warner Bros. is finally circling back on the franchise with Lana Wachowski’s untitled Matrix 4 kicking-off production early next year with a cast that includes Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, John David Washington (Tenet), Neil Patrick Harris (Starship Troopers, Gone Girl), Jessica Henwick (Godzilla vs Kong, Iron Fist, Game of Thrones), and possibly Jada Pinkett Smith (Collateral, Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions).
Its rich mythology of the franchise led to the Animatrix (an animated anthology film) and one of the best segments about the Matrix franchise was actually how the war between humanity and the A.I. started in the first place as covered in Mahiro Maeda’s The Second Renaissance Part I and The Second Renaissance Part II.
I think a series tackling that war or the events leading up the war/blacking out the sky would be really worth exploring.
BLADE RUNNER
We’re getting an anime series called Blade Runner: Black Lotus (takes place 17 years before 2049) on Crunchyroll (owned by WarnerMedia) which is fantastic but I think fans would love to see a live-action limited series or full series continuing to explore the world further whatever that ends up looking like.
Speaking about anime, the short film Black Out 2022 directed by Cowboy Bebop’s Shinichiro Watanabe finally gave us a glimpse of the harsh/violent nature of the off-world colonies or at least the war on Calantha.
If feature films aren’t realistic because of the box office of Blade Runner 2049, shows would certainly be another way to continue the franchise and Denis Villeneuve is already working with WarnerMedia/HBO Max with Dune: The Sisterhood. I think it would take much convincing to get Alcon, Ridley Scott, and Denis involved.
I would love to see a live-action series covering various events in the off-world colonies it could easily become an anthology series, not unlike Black Mirror as there are multiple planets colonized by humanity and populated by replicants.
Another way to go is to cover World War Terminus which takes place prior to 2021 and was first mentioned by author Philip K. Dick.
HN Entertainment previously explored that global event in a video back in 2017.
THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.
There is another film property that could get a second life on streaming and that could be a limited series focusing on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. based on the Guy Ritchie film that starred Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, and Alicia Vikander.
At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo’s only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe.
The studio had originally envisioned the film would become a franchise similar to Mission: Impossible, but sadly the box office didn’t reflect those plans.
I think a miniseries of 6-8 episodes could be super fun to do.
The current problem with this one would be Henry Cavill’s commitments to the Netflix series The Witcher.
MONSTERVERSE
Legendary and Warner Bros. have been betting big on audiences supporting their Monsterverse with a string of releases such as Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of The Monsters, and next year’s Godzilla vs Kong.
It’s hard to imagine that Legendary TV won’t eventually consider mining the franchise for a series.
I think there are a couple of ways to go including focusing on Monarch, the global organization that documents the titans and keeps them hidden from the public.
A second option could be exploring Lt. Hank Marlow and Gunpei Ikari’s time on Skull Island between WWII and the Monarch research team arriving.
POTTERVERSE
Harry Potter franchise screenwriter Steve Kloves is finally making a return with Fantastic Beasts 3 and I think this could spark him doing a lot more writing in the future.
One thing that would be nice is to see a spinoff series possibly tackling various events in the Potterverse mythology or even something brand new just for HBO Max.
Considering they’ve created a spinoff film franchise out of thin air a series wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities. I’d be down to see a show focused on the inmates of Azkaban Prison, but that is just an example of things they could explore.
MAD MAX & FURIOSA
This might be the biggest longshot of the group given the current tensions between the studio and George Miller. As there are still some legal woes between Miller and Warner Bros. over a bonus that was promised by the studio. It’s also one of the big reasons that the movie sequels are being held up.
However, I think if you have George Miller involved you could really do whatever they wanted with a series with new or original characters. The world-building from Miller is fantastic and I think we’re all dying to see more stories told in this harsh post-apocalyptic fantasy land.
HARD BOILED
In 2016, it was announced that Warner Bros. was developing a feature film adaptation of Frank Miller and Geof Darrow’s hyper-violent graphic novel Hard Boiled with writer/director Ben Wheatley (Tomb Raider 2, Free Fire) and starring Tom Hiddleston (High-Rise, The Avengers, Thor: Ragnarok).
Carl Seltz is a suburban insurance investigator, a loving husband, and devoted father. Nixon is a berserk, homicidal tax collector racking up mind-boggling body counts in a diseased urban slaughterhouse. Unit Four is the ultimate robot killing machine – and the last hope of the future’s enslaved mechanical servants. And they’re all the same psychotic entity.
I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if the studio looks at the success of Watchmen and considers turning Hard Boiled into a series instead of a feature film.
Netflix’s Altered Carbon has sort of shown that streamers shouldn’t be afraid to tackle large scale science fiction shows.
Tom Hiddleston doesn’t seem to be terribly opposed to doing television with The Night Manager and Marvel Studios’ upcoming streaming series Loki for Disney+.
These are just a handful of ideas, what would you like to see land a series on HBO Max?
