HBO boss: 'As a gay man, axing 'Looking' was painful'

The boss of HBO has admitted that as a gay man he found it “very painful” to axe the channel’s flagship gay drama Looking earlier this year.

Speaking at a TC press tour yesterday (July 30) HBO president Michael Lombardo also revealed that the program’s previously announced movie continuation will go into production in the coming months, ahead of a scheduled 2016 release.

Lombardo told reporters at that the decision to end Looking at the conclusion of season two back in March was “very painful” for him on “a personal level”, DigitalSpy reports.

“I thought the show, creatively, was really doing something that I hadn’t seen on any other show, particularly dealing with gay lives,” he explained.

“As a gay man, in particular, I was very proud that there was a show that felt like it was dealing very honestly and openly with gay men and their lives, without putting them into a comedic mode.”

Lombardo added that ultimately, the show’s low ratings meant the channel couldn’t justify a third season.

Initially, over 60,000 fans signed a petition to save the Jonathan Groff and Russell Tovey-starring series from cancellation, but their disappointment was eventually allayed by the news of a feature-length movie continuation to provide the series with some closure.

Show star and Attitude columnist Daniel Franzese told attitude.co.uk earlier this that he was “walking away from the show a changed man” – find out more here.

HBO boss: ‘As a gay man, axing ‘Looking’ was painful’

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