The fourth and final seasons of HBO Max’s excellent Doom Patrol and arguably not-quite-as-excellent Titans TV series will end after their fourth seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. And according to James Gunn, who so recently became overseer of the DC live-action universe, and who’s been wiping the proverbial slate clean, it was a decision made before he came on board. Either way, this is a bummer.
First of all, I don’t see any reason Gunn would be fibbing here. Ever since new Warner Bros.Discovery CEO David Zaslav killed the Batgirl movie to save a few bucks I was sure Doom Patrol and Titans were on the chopping block. Honestly, I think it’s a minor miracle we managed to get four seasons of either show. Beginning on the DC Universe app, which married digital comics with a bevy of live-action and animated DC entertainment, Titans and Doom Patrol were among the original offerings created for the series in 2018 and 2019, respectively. When HBO Max was launched in 2020 (can it only have been around for three years?) all the DC TV/movie content was moved there, and somehow both series managed to survive the transition.
Titans may have made it based on name and character recognition, but it was always so much darker than previous Teen Titans entertainment it had to be a tough sell. As for Doom Patrol, the show was based on Grant Morrison’s incredible and incredibly surreal 1989-90 run on the comic of the same name. Calling it a cult favorite is an understatement of both how niche and beloved it was. But somehow, the tale of misfit superheroes who only manage to save the world inadvertently because they’re so busy battling their own neuroses and trauma hit a nerve in live-action, too.
(I will always remember Titans for being the first series to allow Batman to dance the Batusi again after the 1960s TV series, even if it was in Dick Grayson’s fever dream.)
Hey, at least both series have been allowed to finish up their fourth seasons; both only aired the first half of them last year, with the remaining six episodes each to come later. And, if the decision to axe them came a while ago, it’s possible the writers had enough time to give the shows a proper finale. The last episode of Doom Patrol is apparently titled “Done Patrol,” so here’s hoping...
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