HBO Max has scrapped its much-anticipated Degrassi reboot.
The series was announced at the top of the year, months before the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. Since then, the company has announced a slew of cost-saving cutbacks in effort to reduce its $50 billion debt. This included a slew of HBO Max cancellations, including projects like the Batgirl movie, the Strange Adventures anthology series, and the Gordita Chronicles.Â
The Degrassi revival was expected to start filming over the summer and premiere sometime in 2023. Lara Azzopardi (Backstage) and Julia Cohen (Riverdale) were tapped as the seriesâ showrunners, with WildBrain Studios set to produce.
âWhat excites us maybe the most about reviving this beloved franchise is turning it into a truly serialized one-hour drama,â Azzopardi and Cohen said in a joint statement. âWeâre honored to be given the opportunity to lead this evolution and bring this iconic series back into peopleâs homes.â
The Degrassi franchise kicked off in the late 1970s and has expanded into five different series: The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, Degrassi High, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and Degrassi: Next Class. The Next Generation starred Aubrey Grahamâa.k.a. Drakeâas Jimmy Brooks, alongside Jake Epstein, Ryan Cooley, Stacey Farber, Nina Dobrev, and more.Â
WildBrain Studios president Josh Scherba said the reboot would stay true to the franchiseâs brand, while taking audiences on âa journey into exciting new territory, both creatively and dramatically.â
The announcement came just hours after Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav completed a Q3 earnings call with investors. According to Deadline, Zaslav proposed several ways the company could boost profits going forward, like potentially connecting with J.K. Rowling on additional Harry Potter content.
âWeâre going to have a real focus on franchises,â Zaslav said. âWe havenât had a Superman movie in 13 years. We havenât done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years. The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of the profits of Warner Bros. Motion Pictures over the last 25 years. So a focus on the franchise â one of the big advantages that we have, House of the Dragon is an example of that, Game of Thrones, taking advantage of Sex and the City, Lord of the Rings, we still have the right to do Lord of the Rings movies. What are the movies that have brands that are understood and loved everywhere in the world?â
Zaslav went on to reiterate his criticism of direct-to-streaming films, saying the company should instead âfocus on the big movies, the tentpoles that people are going to leave home, leave early from dinner to see.â
âWe learned what doesnât work. And this is what doesnât work for us based on everything that weâve seen: direct-to-streaming movies,â he explained. âSo spending a billion dollars or collapsing a motion picture window into a streaming service. The movies that we launch in theater do significantly better, and launching a 2-hour, 40-minute movie direct to streaming has done nothing for HBO Max in terms of viewership, retention or love of the service.â
Zaslav also confirmed that WBD had upped its original savings goal from $3 billion to $3.5 billion, indicating there were more changesâand likely cutsâon the horizon.
âThe grand experiment of creating something at any cost is over,â he said. â⌠This is more than just a dollar tally of what weâve saved on an expense line,â Zaslav said during the call with analysts. âIt is more than just a number. We are fundamentally rethinking and reimagining how this organization is structured. And we are empowering our business unit leadership to transform their organizations with an owners mindset and a view on quality and accountability.â