Max dumps Julia after two seasons

Max no longer loves Julia, with the streaming service announcing tonight that it’s killing off the series—about the life and times of culinary superstar Julia Child—after two seasons on the network. Created by Daniel Goldfarb, and showrun by Chris Keyes, the show starred Sarah Lancashire as Child and David Hyde Pierce as her husband Paul, as the pair navigated the complicated, funny, and dramatic task of essentially creating the modern cooking show in the 1960s.

But while the series won’t be going forward, it did pick up enough critical buzz to get one of those “Sorry we’re canceling you!” notices from the service, of the kind that you usually only get if a) you’ve got another show on the line with them, or b) they still expect to milk some Emmys out of you down the line. Per Deadline, a Max rep has said that:

We are so honored to have partnered with Chris Keyser, Daniel Goldfarb and their masterful creative team and dynamic cast, led by Sarah Lancashire, as they cooked up Julia. Thanks to their beautiful work over two seasons of this heartful, sensual, and inspiring show, we can forever celebrate the incredible legacy of Julia Child.

(A small note: If we were writing a press statement for a streaming service that notoriously yanks content off of itself the second it smells money somewhere, we might not go quite so heavy on the “celebrate forever” language used here—but such is the world of the effusive “Sorry we canceled you!” statement.)

In addition to Lancashire and Pierce, the series also starred Bebe Neuwirth, Fran Kranz, Fionna Glascott, Brittany Bradford, and Robert Joy. The series began its second season on Max back in November of 2023, and aired what’ll now be its final episode in December of that year.