The Penguin And Dune: Prophecy Will Be Rebranded As HBO Originals

When Warner Bros. made the deep dive into streaming with HBO Max--later rebranded as simply Max--a lot of shows that you might have expected to be HBO Originals were shifted over as streaming exclusives. Now, The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy are the latest Max originals to buck this trend by being rebranded as HBO shows.

Via Deadline, The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy will both make their premiere on HBO later this year. Both series will also be available to stream for Max subscribers, they're just no longer exclusive to that platform. The Penguin is the first spin-off TV series from The Batman, and it will feature Colin Farrell reprising his role as the title character. Dune: Prophecy is a prequel series that takes place centuries before the events of the first two Dune movies.

Why is Warner Bros. Discovery moving most of Max's high-profile shows over to the HBO banner? First, it gives the series a chance to draw big ratings on HBO and potentially expand the viewership numbers. It also suggests that the HBO branding is still more powerful than Max's brand, especially since the streamer was overrun by a glut of Discovery's reality programming.

The Harry Potter TV series and the It prequel, Welcome To Derry, were already shifted over to HBO last month, as was DC Studios' new Lanterns series. None of those shows have firm release dates yet, but Welcome To Derry and Harry Potter are expected to arrive in 2025 and 2026, respectively.