The 2011 ThunderCats reboot is currently the sixth most-watched show on HBO Max worldwide. Fans of the show remember its tragic downfall. The series was one particularly painful loss in the war on action cartoons throughout the 2010s. I and many like me would support the show’s return, though it’s almost certainly not coming. Though we can’t bring the cartoon back, we can join millions in reliving the excellent experience on HBO Max.
Thunder Thunder ThunderCats (2011) on HBO
Ethan Spaulding and Michael Jelenic developed the 2011 reboot of ThunderCats for Cartoon Network. They planned 52 episodes of serialized, adult-oriented, action-packed narrative for their 80s reboot. They borrowed the trappings of the original but imbued the story with a fresh, dark tone and ambitious new presentation. Cartoon Network unceremoniously killed the series after its first 26-episode season. The early 2010s was a nightmare for action cartoons for various reasons. Sym-Bionic Titan fell alongside ThunderCats. Toonami, the beloved programming block that introduced a generation to anime, went off the air in 2009. Its resurrection brought both shows to the screen again. Series like Generator Rex, Disney’s Marvel line-up, and Young Justice suffered similar fates. Some were replaced, but only Young Justice returned. ThunderCats will likely never enjoy the second chance Young Justice earned. It will, however, always have its fans.
HBO, too, has a rough history with cartoons. When David Zaslav took over the combined efforts of Warner Bros. Discovery, he killed several respected animated projects. Take Infinity Train, Owen Dennis’ well-received series that ran for four seasons with another four in its tank. HBO Max dropped that show, removing it from all legal distribution hubs. ThunderCats lost its chance for the same reason. Studios struggle with anything too mature, as parents might restrict their kids from watching them. ThunderCats established a fanbase of several ages, but its success is never enough. The current boom comes primarily from Latin America. ThunderCats is the fourth most-watched show from Mexico through Central and South America. It hasn’t enjoyed that kind of boost in some time, but strong contingents of fandom will still argue it deserves a second chance. Though ThunderCats will likely never return, it’s still worth checking out.
There’s no one reason shows get canceled. HBO Max dropped dozens of beloved series to lower the value of their service and save on taxes. Those stories did nothing wrong, but the people who own them don’t care about art. As long as stories are subject to the whims of pursestring holders, countless narratives will be subtracted from balance sheets. ThunderCats is still a compelling action cartoon well worth watching on HBO. Though we’ll probably never get the planned second season, the story is fun as it is. The dark period for action cartoons isn’t over, but streaming helped to enable their continued existence. ThunderCats might have survived if it had launched ten years later, but we’ll never know. Join countless people across Latin America and enjoy ThunderCats (2011) for the first, second, or hundredth time. It still holds up, no matter how sad the ending feels.
