HBO Just Grounded Its Elon Musk SpaceX Series

Well, that SpaceX series at HBO you might have been waiting on? It’s not happening anymore. And yes, it sounded promising.

What Vance said, straight from the source

Author Ashlee Vance, whose 2017 bestseller 'Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future' inspired the project, posted the update on X on December 3, confirming HBO is out.

'Well, it’s super sad, but this long-running project with HBO has died.'

He also said the scripts were strong — smart, funny, and true to life — and he figured the show would have been a hit. According to Vance, the series lost steam amid HBO’s own corporate shifts, and he thinks some people are skittish about making anything centered on Elon Musk. With HBO stepping away, the rights to his book have reverted back to him, and he’s open to new offers.

So, what was the show supposed to be?

• Format: A limited series at HBO, first announced in October 2020
• Based on: Vance’s 2017 biography of Musk
• Producers: Channing Tatum’s company, Free Association
• Writer: Doug Jung
• Premise: A dramatized look at SpaceX’s scrappy early days — including that remote Pacific island rocket work — building toward SpaceX’s first crewed mission to orbit on May 30, 2020 (the Falcon 9/Crew Dragon launch)

Behind-the-scenes wrinkle

Here’s the slightly messy part: while Vance just posted the update this week, Deadline reported that HBO actually passed on the project years ago. The timing of his post is unclear, but it reads like he’s revving the engines to shop the show somewhere else now that he has the rights back.

Where this leaves things

In limbo, but not dead-dead. HBO is out, the rights have reverted to Vance, and he’s inviting serious offers. If someone wants a grounded, character-forward SpaceX origin story with some bite to it, the door’s open. Whether anyone wants to walk through it — especially given the subject — is the real question.