3 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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HBO

Originally a private cable network, then a premium cable channel, then a mini-network of specialized and dedicated channels, HBO has evolved into a powerhouse of original content production. Game of Thrones is its most obvious success story. But series like Deadwood, The Sopranos, Westworld, True Detective, The Wire, Sex and the City, Girls, and many more have made the network a strong contender in the crowded streaming landscape. With the launch of HBO Max, the network’s offerings have been paired with major titles from Warner Bros., DC, Studio Ghibli, and more. The Verge can help you sort through HBO’s new content and follow its evolving business model as it looks for its next Game of Thrones.

Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
Australia gets Max just in time for The Last of Us season 2.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service is expanding to yet another country, with the Australian launch coming on March 31st. The timing is good for fans of the post-apocalypse: The Last of Us’ new season starts streaming in April.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Starfire and the Green Lantern are getting some new animated adventures of their own.

It seems like Warner Bros. Discovery has been pleased with My Adventures with Superman because the studio has kicked off production on a Green Lantern-centric spinoff series as well as a new show revolving around Teen Titans mainstay Starfire according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The War of the Rohirrim comes to Max next Friday.

While The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim wasn’t exactly worth a trek to the theater, you might want to check it out when it starts streaming on Max on February 28th.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
HBO’s Dumbledore might look and sound like John Lithgow.

Nothing is official until HBO confirms it, but Deadline is reporting that John Lithgow is in talks to play Dumbledore in the network’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot series scheduled to debut some time next year.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Flow is making its way to Max next weekend.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch Gints Zilbalodis’ animated feature Flow, you might want to check out Max on February 14th when the film makes its streaming debut.

10 excellent shows and movies from 2024 to stream on Max

Between The Penguin, Dune: Prophecy, and I Saw the TV Glow, Max has you covered when it comes to last-minute streaming options to get you through the holidays.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Andrew Webster
Andrew Webster
The White Lotus has another grand opening soon.

The third season of the HBO series starts streaming on February 16th, and will shift the setting to Thailand. It also introduces a whole new cast including the likes of Leslie Bibb and Walton Goggins.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Harley Quinn is moving to Metropolis.

Harley Quinn (Kaley Cuoco) is getting the hell out of Gotham in the upcoming fifth season of her animated Max series premiering on January 16th. And a new trailer teases how her plan to start a new life with Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) is going to go a little left as they cross paths with Lena Luthor (Aisha Tyler), Lois Lane (Natalie Morales), and Brainiac (Stephen Fry).

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
This is the sound of Dune: Part Two’s score being born.

It took a lot of technical know-how to create Dune: Part Two’s mesmerizing score, and this new video from Expressive E breaks down how Hans Zimmer made it happen using a fleet of Osmose synthesizers.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Max will launch in the UK and Ireland in 2026.

Max has been available in a handful of European countries since earlier this year, but now that Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky have re-upped their distribution partnership, the one to watch is finally launching in the UK and Ireland some time in 2026.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Max is shining a spotlight on TCM next year.

To remind everyone that Max offers a selection of excellent classic films, the streamer’s TCM hub is rolling out a monthly series of “curational moments” next year that will highlight the work of stars like Cary Grant and Elizabeth Taylor.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Phoenix. Gaga. Max.

If you’ve been waiting to stream Joker: Folie à Deux like a sensible person, the time is almost here because the film is coming to Max on December 13th.

Dune: Prophecy’s showrunner wants you to think beyond the hero / villain binary

Alison Schapker sees Dune: Prophecy as a story about the ebb and flow of institutional power.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is coming to HBO Max for the holidays.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice might not be your go-to holiday comfort watch yet, but you’ll be able to change that on December 6th when the film debuts on HBO Max. The streamer’s also releasing American Sign Language (ASL) and Língua Brasileira De Sinais (LIBRAS) versions of the film in the US / Europe and Brazil, respectively.

Dune: Prophecy is a slow and cerebral meditation on the power of patience

HBO’s new Dune prequel series sharpens the Bene Gesserit’s history into a pointed drama that calls for some patience.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
And just like that...HBO is ready to send in the clown.

HBO’s It prequel series Welcome to Derry still doesn’t have a concrete release date. But the network’s new 2025 sizzle reel features a fresh look at Pennywise (in human disguise) as well as a whole bunch of footage from Creature Commandos, The Chair Company, Dune: Prophecy, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
David Zaslav says WBD’s games and films “must deliver more consistency.”

During a Q3 earnings call on Thursday, Zaslav said the company’s games business is “underperforming its potential.” He also acknowledged that “inconsistency also remains an issue” at WBD’s film studio, “reinforced recently by the disappointing results of Joker 2.”

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Max added 7.2 million subscribers following its rollout in more countries.

The service now has 110.5 million subscribers, marking “the strongest quarterly gain since the platform’s launch,” according to Warner Bros. Discovery’s Q3 earnings release.

Max launched in Latin America and Europe earlier this year and will roll out in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan later this month.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Dune: Prophecy premieres in exactly one month.

We’ve known for a while now that HBO was aiming to debut its Dune: Prophecy prequel series at some point this fall. But in addition to dropping a new trailer, the network has finally announced that the show will premiere on November 17th.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
And then there’s Hal.

There was still time for HBO to make its Lanterns show all about Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart, but the network has just officially cast Kyle Chandler to co-star as Hal Jordan.

A photo of Kyle Chandler, and an image of a man in a green and black superhero costume wearing a green ring.
HBO / Warner Bros.
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Let’s stop (motion) and take another look Over the Garden Wall.

Though Over the Garden Wall still remains criminally unavailable on Max where it belongs, a new two-minute-long stop-motion short from series creator Patrick McHale and Aardman is coming to Cartoon Network’s YouTube channel on November 3rd.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
The cameras are ready to roll in The Franchise’s new trailer.

Though everything about The Franchise’s big budget superhero movie production makes the fictional project seemed doomed to fail, its crew has no choice but to soldier forward in the show’s latest trailer.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
MaXXXine will get the Max streaming premiere it deserves this October.

If you didn’t catch Ti West’s MaXXXine during its theatrical run, the film’s finally making its way to Max on October 18th and will start airing on HBO beginning the next day.

A blonde woman holding a gun.
A24 / HBO
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Max and Hayao and the Boy and the Heron.

A 2-hour-long documentary about The Boy and the Heron called Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron was spotted on Max by French animation outlet Catsuka.

According to Max’s description, it was “filmed with exclusive access to Studio Ghibli across an astonishing seven years” of Miyazaki’s work making his latest post-retirement movie (which, by the way, is also now available to stream).

Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Ishana Night Shyamalan’s first film is coming to Max this month.

The Watchers, a supernatural thriller based on the book A.M. Shine, hits Max on August 30th, reports Deadline.

Prior to The Watchers, Shyamalan served as a second unit director on father M. Night Shyamalan’s film Old and directed six episodes of Servant, his Apple TV Plus series.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Furiosa roars onto Max next week.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga only hit theaters a few months ago, but Warner Bros. announced today that the film is already making its way to Max next week on August 16th.

A woman looking over her shoulder out the rear window of a car.
Warner Bros.
House of the Dragon’s second season was about the quiet moments that shape history

House of the Dragon ended its second season with a reminder that this is all just one part of a much larger story.

Charles Pulliam-Moore