Now that the WGA strike (one of the longest in history) is officially over, major production companies such as HBO are prioritizing the development of new scripts for returning series, as opposed to the creation of new content for streaming. Due to HBO already having pre-established scripts for the series “House of the Dragon,” Variety claims that, “HBO was not able to produce new episodes of “The White Lotus,” “Euphoria” and “The Last of Us,” and will be putting its focus on those projects in 2024, instead of new development” (Brent Lang, Jennifer Maas, Joe Otterson, Variety — Sept. 27, 2023).
With that said, fans of these much loved series can expect HBO will be, “prioritizing the scripts for ‘EUPHORIA’ Season 3, ‘THE WHITE LOTUS’ Season 3 and ‘THE LAST OF US’ Season 2” (FilmUpdates Twitter, Sept. 27, 2023). This is great news for audiences who have been anticipating new seasons for each of these individual series that have already released their episodes in 2022 and early 2023. For fans of “Euphoria,” new episodes are even more heavily anticipated on the notion that Season 1 and 2 premiered their seasons about 2 and a half years apart from each other, with only 2 special episodes in between in late 2020, and early 2021. With season 2 of Euphoria releasing their final episode in February of 2022, it has already been over a year and a half without any new content for the fans to become excited for.
In comparison, The White Lotus season 1, aired its final episode in August of 2021, and released the first episode of season 2 just a little over a year later in October of 2022. This suggests that the HBO brand is capable of developing content for renewed series on rushed deadlines with a relatively short time gap in between seasons. With “Euphoria” having such an enormous fan-base, it is no wonder HBO wants to prioritize the writing and production of season 3 to sustain interest in the series, versus trying to generate the same amount of viewerships for potential new programs that may not be as viewed as these already established series. For example, “According to HBO themselves, the Season 2 episodes of Euphoria currently average around 16.3 million viewers across all platforms. . . On top of that, the viewership of the premiere episode of the second season has risen to 19 million viewers in the United States” (Shane Romanchick, Collider — March 1, 2022). In support, “The “Euphoria” Season 2 premiere, which first aired Jan. 9, has drawn 13.1 million viewers across multiple HBO and HBO Max to date, with Episodes 2 and 3 tracking similarly, per HBO. That is close to +100% the 6.6 million average audience size that was drawn by Season 1 episodes in-season during summer 2019” (Jennifer Maas, Variety — Feb. 1, 2022).
Those statements indicate how overall viewership for “The White Lotus” have also increased in millions upon the release of season 2 episodes, similar to that of Euphoria earlier that same year. Season 1 of both series generated fewer viewers than their newer seasons, which can reveal why HBO feels it is more necessary to develop scripts for these returning series over new content, as the audiences are already established and increasing significantly in newer seasons. For them to try and create new series with no pre-existing fan base would result in lower viewer ratings, that would likely need more seasons to boost audience interest like that of “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” between their seasons 1 and 2.
For “The Last of US,” the series does not have a season 2 to currently compare ratings, however the amount of viewers for their season 1 episodes alone, compete with that of “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” with viewership numbers that are exceeding expectations for single season. For reference, “With an audience of 8.2 million people for Episode 9, the series broke its own viewership record — a significant feat, considering that the finale was released during ABC’s telecast of the Oscars. . . WBD also shared that the first six episodes of the series are now averaging 30.4 million viewers, including ongoing viewership past initial airings, with Episode 1 alone approaching 40 million total viewers in the weeks since it debuted. In Europe and Latin America, “The Last of Us” has become the most watched show in HBO Max’s history. . . When “The Last of Us” debuted in January, it trailed “House of the Dragon” to become the second-most watched HBO premiere in over a decade with 4.7 million viewers. Episode 2 marked HBO’s biggest-ever increase between a series’ first and second episode with 5.7 million viewers. The show then brought in 6.4 million viewers with Episode 3. . . The most comparable series in terms of viewership has been Season 1 of “House of the Dragon,” which aired in 2022. And though “The Last of Us” hasn’t yet managed to outperform “House of the Dragon,” the former has managed a steeper week-to-week trajectory than the latter: “House of the Dragon” Season 1 averaged 29 million viewers, a number that counts continued viewership past initial airings” (Selome Hailu, Variety — March 13, 2023).
For fans of these 3 series, this is incredible news because it means that the highly anticipated newer seasons are going to be developed sooner rather than later, in relation to the already prolonged delays as a result of the much needed WGA strike. However, it is interesting to wonder what newer content could have been developed by HBO in contrast to these prioritized series, and if they would have been as successful as these already established programs. “The Last of Us” season 1 was already deemed one of the most successful series in HBO history, so had they developed new content that could generate similar amounts of increased interest/viewership on a first season could have been interesting to witness. Although ultimately, the fans of these shows are expecting content for new seasons of series that were already announced. So to create and generate interest for new series that aren’t somewhat developed could deter fans who have been expecting returning programs, announced prior to the Writers Strike of this year. That being noted, it can be expected that these 3 series will be the main focus of HBO production with the hopeful releasing of new episodes in 2024 or 2025.
So are you excited for these returning series? Watch the older seasons using a Max subscription, with pricing starting at 9.99$ per month. Binge on seasons 1 and 2 of “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus”, seasons 1 of “The Last of Us” and “House of The Dragon,” and anticipate the new scripts, cast, and teases for each new season that is now being prioritized by HBO amid the WGA Strike end. Luckily, “House of the Dragon” fans can expect new episodes of the second season being targeted for a release of summer 2024, with more information you can read through this link at Variety.