The Last of Us Ellie in HBO Max trailer HBO Max

HBO Max Is BACK, Max Is Officially Dead

Originally posted on Nerdist | By Rotem Rusak | Last updated Jul 9, 2025 1:29 PM ET

Guess who’s back? Back again? HBO Max is back, tell a friend! Yes, it’s that exciting, we had to go early aughts on it. Wildly enough, HBO Max isn’t even that old of a service; it actually only launched in 2020. But already, HBO Max has changed its name twice in that five-year time span. In 2023, the platform dropped the HBO and went pure Max. This move, of course, was derided by lovers of the brand. But now, the “HBO” is back in business as decision-makers rightly acknowledge that having a niche and powerful brand identity is probably a better move than trying to be a catchall streamer without a true direction. As of July 9, 2025, HBO Max is officially the name of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streamer once more. Welcome back, HBO Max, it’s like you never left.

“We have to go home,” Daenerys Targaryen plaintively tells us in this trailer celebrating HBO Max’s return with clips of The Last of Us, White Lotus, House of the Dragon and more… Although at the time of this writing, the entire description still refers to the streamer as “Max.”

HBO Max trailer still refers to itself as max HBO Max

We guess an identity crisis like this one will take a while to sort through. But home, ostensibly, refers to HBO Max, the first streamer Game of Thrones ever knew. It’s a very touching ode to HBO Max. Do we feel this emotional… not really. But Max always confused us and walking back choices that don’t make sense is always a good thing.

What does changing HBO Max’s name from Max back to HBO Max signal for the streamer? Hopefully, it signals a more focused approach for the platform, as well as more well-written, nuanced television that we can really enjoy. As of right now, the shift back to HBO Max does not include any changes in subscription price or available content. But we’ll have to keep an eye on it because sometimes changing the label does mean changing the cost.

As we said, welcome to our screens, HBO Max, for the second and hopefully last time.

This article first appeared on Nerdist and was syndicated with permission.

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