“In Treatment” is once again ending its session. The HBO drama, which returned for a fourth season in 2021 after a decade-long break, won’t be returning for more episodes, HBO/HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys confirmed to Variety.
The reimagined new season earned star Uzo Aduba an Emmy nomination in the lead drama actress category for her role as therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor; Anthony Ramos, Liza Colón-Zayas, John Benjamin Hickey, Quintessa Swindell and Joel Kinnaman also starred in the revival. The original three seasons of “In Treatment,” starring Gabriel Byrne, ran from 2008 to 2010.
“In Treatment” was novel for its format as a half-hour drama, stripped throughout the week on HBO. Season 4 of “In Treatment” ran for 24 episodes, with four a week, from May 23 to June 28 last year. Bloys noted that much of “In Treatment” takes place in the therapist’s office, making it easy to shoot with COVID protocols.
“That was really a response to when we were talking about the pandemic and how do you shoot, what kinds of shows lend themselves to production,” said Bloys, who spoke to Variety on Wednesday during HBO and HBO Max’s portion of the Television Critics Assn. virtual press tour. “Then out of that conversation came ‘In Treatment’ and ‘The White Lotus’ [which was shot entirely at a Maui resort]. And I think working with Uzo was the big one there and that was great, but no plans to continue doing that.”
Meanwhile, Bloys said talks remain ongoing about another season of the “Sex and the City” sequel series, “And Just Like That” — but that he remains hopeful for news soon.
“We’re thrilled with how the show did and [showrunner] Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica Parker are talking to make sure there’s a creative direction that they’re excited by,” he said. “They will come to us when they’re ready, but I hope they have something they’re excited by… I know they had the idea of Big’s death as a way to examine this this kind of time in your life, in your 50s. I think they wanted to see how it went and how they felt. It turns out, they had a good time. So I imagine they’re going to come up with something they’re excited by, but we’re just giving them their time.”
Meanwhile, although production has finished on Season 1 of the “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon,” Bloys said he wasn’t quite ready to announce when the series might premiere — or even hint at what time of year it might finally arrive — just yet. But yes, the network is already thinking about a renewal.
“If you’re betting on whether we’re going to do a second season, I think it’s probably a pretty good bet,” he said. “Generally speaking, we usually let something air and see how it does, but obviously, we’ll make preparations ahead of time to make sure we’re ahead of the game.”
Bloys remains quiet on the status of the other “GOT” shows in development, repeating his previous line that “right now, there’s one ‘Game of Thrones’ show that is greenlit and that is ‘House of the Dragon,’ which we’re excited by. I feel really good about what I’ve seen so far.” As for any more greenlight announcements, “I would never time it around the launch of a show, whether to greenlight something or not. Those are separate events.”
Among shows on the way, on tap for later this year include the returns of “Barry” (April 24), “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “The White Lotus” and “Westworld,” which is back with Season 4 in the summer. HBO Max, meanwhile, has more “Hacks,” “The Flight Attendant” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls” on the way, among other projects.
Bloys is bullish on “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” which premieres March 6. And he confirms that producers are indeed eyeing multiple seasons — which means perhaps taking the story even beyond the Showtime Lakers era, into the 1990s and 2000s.
“Even before we went into production, it was just one of those realizations that the Lakers dynasty is still going,” he said. “The drama is still ongoing, so there’s no reason why it has to end at the end of the Showtime era. It can keep going. So obviously we’ll see what [the executive producers] want to do. But I think it will be multiple seasons for sure.”
Could that mean we’ll eventually see Kobe and Shaq, or even LeBron? Bloys said hang tight — he doesn’t want to rush the show. “It will probably kind of stay chronological,” he said. “I don’t I don’t see a reason to jump too far ahead. There’s a lot of drama along the way between when this starts in 79 or 1980 through 2022. It’s still ongoing. So that should give you a couple seasons of drama to chronicle.”
Meanwhile, Bloys just gave “The Gilded Age” a Season 2 renewal, and is currently basking in the ratings triumph of “Euphoria,” which continues to post series-high ratings. Just this Sunday, the drama clocked a remarkable 5.1 million viewers opposite the Super Bowl, a new record for the show.
“I’m really proud of what Sam [Levinson] and Zendaya have done here because it’s really compelling,” he said. “It feels very contemporary, very cutting edge. It’s extraordinarily well acted and directed. I feel like it’s caught on and people want to see it and what people are talking about. You’re in a situation now where it grows exponentially, which is a nice position to be in.”
Looming over all is the impending WarnerMedia/Discovery merger, and the question of what that might mean particularly in the unscripted space, which is Discovery’s specialty. Bloys is still unable to say much in that regard. “We don’t really have a clear picture yet of what it’s all going to look like, but obviously, they have a real expertise in reality programming,” he said. “Generally speaking, it feels like a good combination. Beyond that, we have to get into the details of what it all is going to look like. I feel good about what I think it could look like, but that’s really all I can say at this point.”
Now, as Emmy season approaches, Bloys said, “I think what you’re seeing now is really us realizing the potential of HBO continuing to do what it’s doing and then HBO Max, with the Max originals at full capacity. We’ve got a lot of strong contenders with ‘Succession,’ hopefully people recognize the great work on ‘Insecure,’ we’ve got ‘The White Lotus,’ we’ve got ‘Hacks’ coming back, we’ve got ‘The Flight Attendant.’ Hopefully people will notice ‘Gilded Age’ and ‘Winning Time’ and ‘Euphoria.’ I feel good about our prospects going into this Emmy season. You can’t count on anything. But I like our hand.”
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