Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty will not be renewed for a third season, showrunner Max Borenstein confirmed shortly after the Season 2 finale aired.
“Not the ending that we had in mind. But nothing but gratitude and love,” Borenstein wrote on X.
“When you give it everything you’ve got, you can have no regrets.” director Salli Richardson posted on Instagram. “I hope you enjoy the last episode of @winningtimehbo I am sure I will do many more hours of TV and hopefully many features in my future, but I can say that at this moment in time I am most proud of the work we did on this masterful show.”
The news isn't a total surprise, as sagging ratings for the highly-stylized and expensive star-studded series — amid broader cost-cutting at Warner Bros. Discovery and ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — prompted Jeff Pearlman, author of the source text, to plead folks to tune in.
“I’m telling you — the future of “Winning Time” hangs in the balance,” Pearlman wrote. “We need viewers. The strikes are crippling. Please help spread the word. Season 2 is amazing. But … HBO is big on #s.”
According to Deadline, the Season 2 premiere pulled 629,000 total viewers, down from 901,000 for the pilot, which debuted in March 2022.
The first season of the Adam McKay production — starring John C. Reilly, Adrien Brody, Jason Segel, and outstanding newcomer Quincy Isaiah — covered the 1979-80 campaign. The second season sped through the next few years, through the 1984 NBA Finals.
The show hit a PR speed bump early on, as numerous high-profile figures, including Jerry West, Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, criticized — and in West's case, sued —the show for their characterizations. Outside of Jeanie Buss' compliments about Reilly's portrayal of her father, Dr. Jerry Buss, the Lakers organization was never behind the series.
Winning Time executive producer Kevin Messick told Vulture that HBO informed the creators in January that this could be the final season.
(FYI: If you're still catching up with the show, you can follow along with our fact-checking explainers for the latest season. And check out my conversation with Idan Ravin, a trainer for NBA stars who oversaw all basketball-related matters on the show.)
Unfortunately, the cancellation means the show's narrative concludes — SPOILER ALERT — with the Boston Celtics defeating the Lakers in the Finals (before an ominous montage/addendum explaining what happened to various characters).
“We would love to have, at the very least, even though we can do this for years, one more season so that we can get the Lakers winning against the Celtics,” Richardson told The Hollywood Reporter in August. “We don’t want to end with the Celtics winning. That’s awful.”
Of course, the Showtime Lakers would get their revenge in 1985 and go on to win three more titles.