Max has officially maxed out.
In a brief press release shared Wednesday, the streamer announced that “HBO Max is back,” with a simple message: “It’s good to be Home.”
But those following HBO Max’s social media accounts were treated to a slew of memes regarding their rebrand, spoofing content like The Penguin, Succession, and Friends, as well as Nathan Fielder‘s The Rehearsal and Nathan for You, per Variety.
The streamer explained alongside its Friends HBO Max meme that “with the return of the iconic HBO name the updated logo positions the HBO brand prominently, ensuring it is the primary visual read with emphasis on the iconic core, which is embedded in the counter of the ‘O.’”
“This deliberate hierarchy reinforces that the platform’s core value proposition remains anchored in HBO’s legacy and reputation for excellence,” the message continued.
Meanwhile “the ‘Max’ portion of the logo complements this hierarchy in various technical ways.”
“The “Max” mark has been carefully adjusted to a lighter stroke weight compared to its previous iteration. Moreover, the characteristic of the counter “core,” previously embedded within the letter “a” of “Max,” has been intentionally omitted. This nuanced adjustment respects the visual ownership of the core form as a distinct hallmark of the HBO logo, maintaining clarity and brand integrity.
After launching as HBO Max in 2020, the streamer became simply Max on May 23, 2023. Almost two years later, on May 14, 2025, the announcement arrived surrounding the streaming service’s summer return to HBO Max at the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation.
As for what this rebrand means for subscribers, the name change simply spotlights the platform’s focus on HBO, as the CEO and President David Zaslav noted at the time of the May 2025 announcement.
“The powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming,” he said. “Today, we are bringing back HBO, the brand that represents the highest quality in media, to further accelerate that growth in the years ahead.”
HBO head Casey Bloys had added, “With the course we are on and strong momentum we are enjoying, we believe HBO Max far better represents our current consumer proposition. And it clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for.”
If you’re new to Max, you can sign up for as low as $9.99/month with ads, but an ad-free subscription will cost $16.99/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the discounted Disney+ Bundles with Hulu and Max. With ads, the bundle costs $16.99/month and without ads, $29.99/month.