Casey Bloys was questioned by press this evening at a rare Max showcase in London as a small number of attendees were treated to sneak peeks of The White Lotus, The Last of Us and Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
A trio of the streamer’s most anticipated shows were unveiled by the senior U.S. exec including the third season of The White Lotus, which moves to Thailand. The Last of Us video-game adaptation was one of its biggest shows last year and has amassed huge viewing in the UK via Sky. That second series was shown to attendees. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, meanwhile, was displayed in all its humor and irreverence. The prequel takes a somewhat different tone to House of the Dragon and the original Game of Thrones. Also on show were Mark Ruffalo-starring crime drama Task and Stephen King adaptation IT: Welcome to Derry.
Bloys was also in London touting Max’s local programing, as the U.S. streamer attempts to shift the narrative on local originals. Local original commissioning was halted in a number of European territories two years ago and layoffs followed, but Bloys, who spoke alongside Salma Hayek Pinault, Diane Kruger and Harry Potter showrunner Francesca Gardiner, said the streamer is in a different place.
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“This is an answer to the reset from a couple of years ago,” he said. “The great Netflix correction was happening [back then] and we were reassessing spending and profitability. We were not alone in that but part of the reason for doing this today was so you could see [local originals are] very much a part of what we are doing going forwards in many territories.”
On competition from Netflix, he said Max will remain in its lane rather than taking on the streamer across all genres. “We are knowing that the people who will use Max will probably have both Netflix and Amazon,” he said. “Netflix is big and established and is doing everything. We are leaning into what we do well as a company.”
Bloys was also placed under pressure over the lawsuit filed three months ago from long-running partner Sky that is alleging several breaches of a multi-year agreement between the two companies that was signed in 2019. Sky has long carried HBO content and the pair’s well-known output deal expires soon, with many possibilities for what happens next to Sky content in the UK, Germany and Italy.
Bloys said he couldn’t comment on the Sky lawsuit but noted that the pair “have a lot of history and hopefully it gets resolved.”
“We have said Max will launch in the UK in 2026,” he added of the relationship with Sky. “What that looks like is ongoing.”