The Warner Bros. Discovery streaming service Max will not be renewing the popular cross-culture crime series Tokyo Vice for a third season. The show’s creator and executive producer J.T. Rogers and executive producer and director Alan Poul confirmed the news during a panel discussion with Max original programming chief Sarah Aubrey at the PGA’s Produced By conference on Saturday. The pair indicated that it was a mutual decision as it was originally pitched as a two-season show and lead actor Ansel Elgort only signed for two series.
‘A Global Success Story’
“We’re grateful not only to Max, but to our partners Fifth Season, who sold the show around the world, and made it a global success story,” said Rogers and Poul in a joint statement. “They were in the trenches with us always, guaranteeing that we could make the show we wanted to make. The response from both the press and from fans, in particular to Season 2, has been overwhelming. It’s been thrilling to find out how deeply viewers have engaged with our characters, and to hear how they are clamoring for more.”
They certainly are. Fans have taken to X to voice their disapproval of the decision. “This is a huge bummer,” wrote one viewer. “Tokyo Vice is one of the best shows on Max and I can’t possibly recommend it enough. At least things were mostly wrapped up, so we’re not left on a brutal cliffhanger.” Another person wrote, “Speechless – disappointed – angry but will hold out hope that another outlet has the sense to pick it up.” Given the reaction to the series, that could be a possibility. In their statement, Rogers and Poul added that “there is more story to tell.”
About Tokyo Vice
The debut season of Tokyo Vice premiered on HBO Max on April 7, 2022. Based on Jake Adelstein’s book of the same name, the story centers around an American who becomes the first foreign journalist to be hired by Tokyo newspaper Meicho Shimbun. He is then dragged into the dark underworld of the yakuza after veteran detective Hiroto Katagiri takes him under his wing. The drama, which stars Ken Watanabe alongside Elgort, garnered critical acclaim and was subsequently renewed for a second season. Unfortunately for many fans, there won’t be a third. Unless, of course, another streaming service decides to pick it up.
