Max’sTokyo Viceexplored the Japanese criminal underworld through the lens of an American journalist for two seasons before it was canceled, ending one of the better original ongoing series on the service in recent years. While HBO is still one of the premier destinations for good television, we’re now a few years past the point whereevery HBO original series was must-watch television. Other streamers and channels have eaten up larger portions of the pie, and now,just because it’s HBO doesn’t necessarily mean it will be exceptional.
So whenTokyo Vicearrived, it was an extremely exciting prospect. An adaptation of an acclaimed memoir set in a unique world that never gets attention,Tokyo Vicemanaged to exceed expectations.Starring a fantastic castled by Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe,Tokyo Vicefollows Jake Adelstein (Elgort), an American journalist working in Tokyo who immerses himself in the seedy underworld of the city where there’s a thin line between criminals and the law. Despite the quality and uniqueness of the series, theshow was canceled after the second season.
Max Canceled Tokyo Vice & A Slew Of Other Shows In 2024
Tokyo Vice Was Filmed Almost Exclusively In Japan
Max announced thatTokyo Vicewas canceled in June 2024, just a few months after the season 2 finale (viaDeadline). The Max spokesperson only had this to say,
“From Tokyo Vice’s richly written material to the gorgeously composed shots to the lived-in performances, the care and creativity of this enormously talented cast and crew shines in every frame of the show. We thank J.T., Alan, Ansel, Ken, Fifth Season, and Wowow for their partnership on this wholly unique modern noir thriller.”
There has never been an official reason behind the cancelation, andthe show was likely just the victim of normal price-cutting that streamers sometimes go through. Numerous notable shows were canceled in 2024, and the simple explanation is thatTokyo Vicewas simply one of the unlucky ones.Tokyo Vicewas also likely a particularly expensive production. The show was shot almost entirely in Japan (viaTHR). Most shows set in the country only have establishing shots filmed there, then do the rest in Vancouver, Los Angeles, or another stand-in.
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Japan is not a country built for foreign film industries. The showrunners had to jump through significantly more hoops to get their show made,including getting the personal approval of every single shop owner in the Akasaka district of Tokyo, where they intended to shoot. That takes time and money. Max was certainly on board. Max’s head of original content, Sarah Aubrey, said,
“There was never a question about whether we were going to shoot Tokyo Vice entirely in Japan. This wasn’t going to be a story set in the American embassy with a few excursions out into the rest of Tokyo. It’s an immersion into Japanese culture through that city’s crime world — and that was the main selling point for me and the network.”
However, those seasons add up, and three was likely just a bit too much for the streaming service to swallow.
What The Makers Of Tokyo Vice Said About The Cancelation
J.T. Rogers And Alan Poul Were Thankful To Max
The show’s creator J.T. Rogers and EP/director Alan Poul had only good things to say about Max after the cancelation,
It seems that Max was very transparent with the creative team about their thought processand gave them the chance to end the show on their terms. Poul said (viaVariety),
“We were always told that there was no guarantee of a Season 3. So our only desire was for Season 2 to be as successful as possible.”
Tokyo Vicedid end up nailing that ending, even Rogers agrees,
“To Max’s credit, I asked for two extra episodes, which did about kill us by the time we got around to shooting them… But I wanted to land the plane in a way that if, God forbid, there was never going to be any more, that it would have a satisfying arc… I felt we succeeded in that, which I’m very proud of, with many, many, many, many drafts of that last episode.”
Despite their optimism about “seeing what the future holds”, it’s very unlikelyTokyo Vicereturns, and fans will have to be content that at least they weren’t left on a cliffhanger.
Tokyo Vice
Cast
Based on the novel and the true experiences of Jake Adelstein, Tokyo Vice is a drama thriller series that sees the first American journalist ever to join a Japanese newspaper, forced to start at the bottom of the totem pole to earn his place. Set loose under a vice detective’s close tutelage and supervision, Jake steps into the Yakuza-led underworld of Tokyo and learns what it means to ask too many questions.
