“‘Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty’ Canceled After Two Seasons “

HBO

Victory time: The rise of the Lakers dynasty is over.

Following Sunday’s Season 2 finale, creator Max Borenstein confirmed the news on X.

“Not the ending we imagined,” he wrote. “But nothing but gratitude and love.”

Director Salli Richardson This was followed on Instagram: “If you give it your all, you can’t regret it.” I hope you enjoy the latest episode of @WINNINGTIMEHBO. I’m sure I’ll be doing many more hours on television and hopefully many features in the future, but I can say that at this moment I’m most proud of the work we’ve done on this masterful show.”

The second season of Winning Time returned to HBO on August 6 with a total of 629,000 viewers across Max and linear broadcasts. That was a drop considering 901,000 people tuned in for the first season’s debut in March 2022. By May of this year, the first season had attracted 1.6 million same-day viewers for the finale. (Though perhaps it’s worth nothing that Season 1 most likely also benefited from March Madness enthusiasm, when basketball is already at the top of viewers’ lists.)

The HBO series is based on Jeff Pearlman’s book “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.” The second installment of the series focused on the period immediately following the 1980-84 NBA Finals and culminated in the first professional rematch between the biggest stars of the era: Magic (Quincy Isaiah) and Larry Bird (Sean Patrick Small) of the Boston Celtics.

Last month, Pearlman went on X to ask people to watch the second season. “I’m telling you – the future of Winning Time is at stake,” Pearlman tweeted. “We need spectators. The strikes are crippling. Please help spread the word. Season 2 is great. But…HBO puts a lot of emphasis on #s,” he wrote.

Adrien Brody, John C. Reilly, Michael Chiklis) and Jason Segel star in Winning Time alongside Jason Clarke, Gaby Hoffmann, Hadley Robinson, DeVaughn Nixon, Solomon Hughes, Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett and Molly Gordon, Joey Brooks, Delante Desouza, Jimel Atkins, Austin Aaron, McCabe Slye, Thomas Mann, Gillian Jacobs and Rob Morgan.

Executive producers are writers/co-creators Borenstein and Jim Hecht, Adam McKay, Kevin Messick, Scott Stephens, Rodney Barnes, director Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Jason Shuman.