Summary
- Minx, the show that was originally canceled by Max and then saved by Starz, has now been canceled after its second season.
- Series star Jake Johnson believes that the show’s lack of promotion due to the SAG-AFTRA strike and the move to HBO Max affected its performance.
- Despite the cancelation, there is hope for Minx to continue on as there are already three streaming platforms showing interest in picking it up.
Although it may not be a surprise to some, Minx has had cold water poured on it once again, with the show being canceled by Starz. The show was originally canceled by Max prior to the airing of its second season, which seemed set to fall victim to Warner Bros. Discovery’s brutal tax write-offs. However, the series was saved by Starz, and the second season was delivered in the summer, with the finale airing on September 8, 2023, but will not be getting a season 3.
Series star Jake Johnson, who appeared in the show alongside Ophelia Lovibond, already seemed to have anticipated the show’s fate, having recently cut his hair (which is long in the series). Speaking to Deadline, the actor suggested that the show’s premiere arriving without the cast being able to promote it thanks to the end of the SAG-AFTRA happening just days earlier played a big part in the second seasons issues.
“I think the move to Starz, I think HBO kind of doing their HBO thing, or HBO Max, whatever it’s called now, I think that was brutal for [the show]. Then, I think the strike coming out right as we were trying to promote it…My guess is you can’t beat something up that many times and keep going.”
When Minx premiered on HBO Max in March 2022, it opened to positive reviews. A month after its release, the series earned a second season renewal. All was well and on schedule, until December, when the series was abruptly canceled in a cost-cutting move stemming from the WarnerMedia and Discovery Merger. When the news hit, filming for the series’ sophomore season was well underway. Cancelation of Minx came as a bit of a shock considering the positive feedback the first season had received. Johnson, who stars in and co-executive produces the series, opened up about learning of the show’s cancelation in a recent conversation with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I found out with everybody else when the news broke. It was more of an existential hit, for me. It wasn’t creative or personal. It was just a huge corporation doing a snaky numbers move. The more these people keep pushing, the less it’s about art and creativity and the more it’s about data. F—ing gross.”
Despite the news, Johnson shared that there was a light at the end of the tunnel:
“Our cast is so sweet, so new generation. On New Girl, which will always be my base, that was my generation and we were rattier. No one acted vulnerable. If we’d been canceled, we all would’ve been sailors about it. ‘OK, well, then, f— Fox!’ With this group, there was just a sadness in the air. I’ve become a veteran, so I contacted a friend at Lionsgate and he explained that we weren’t dead. This show was lucrative for the studio domestically and internationally. There were already three streamers showing interest. The question wasn’t if we’d find a home. It was, ‘Who wants us the most and why?'”
Johnson added that while he couldn’t make any public statements about the likelihood of Minx continuing on in a new home, he “could reassure castmembers.” Lionsgate Television, the production company behind the series, began shopping the series, and less than a month later, Minx was picked up by Starz, the network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment.
Jake Johnson Previously Looked Forward to a Third Season of Minx
The series, which follows the creation of the fictional publication Minx (the first erotic magazine for women), stars Ophelia Lovibond as Joyce, an idealistic young woman who wants to launch a feminist publication, and Johnson as Doug, an adult magazine publisher who somehow convinces Joyce to go into business with him. Throughout the first season, Doug, Joyce, and the rest of the Minx crew work hard to gain buzz for the unprecedented magazine featuring naked men and feminist articles. They find success, but it doesn’t come without struggles and significant differences between the series protagonists.
Johnson previously wanted to see the series get a third season, telling THR:
“I want Minx to get a third season. I really want to see [my character] Doug in the ’80s, to see what happens when he does cocaine for the first time.”
Minx‘s sophomore season stars Johnson, Lovibond, Johnson, Idara Victor, Jessica Lowe, Lennon Parham, Michael Angarano, Oscar Montoya and Elizabeth Perkins. The series is created by Ellen Rapoport, who serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Paul Feig and Dan Magnante for Feigco Entertainment, and Ben Karlin and Rachel Lee Goldenberg.
The first two seasons of Minx will remain on the Starz app and major platforms.
