Jake Johnson Predicts ‘Minx’ Is Nixed After ‘Brutal’ Move from Max to Starz

Samantha Bergeson
·3 min read
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Jake Johnson is predicting “Minx” will get canceled, again, and this time for good.

The actor, who also serves as a co-executive producer on the series, told Deadline that a third season is unlikely. “Minx” has already been through a lot: it was initially canceled at Max after already completing production on Season 2. Starz later acquired and aired that season, but it sounds like the 1970s-set comedy centered around a women’s adult magazine ends now.

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“I think the move to Starz, I think HBO kind of doing their HBO thing, or HBO Max, whatever it’s called now, I think that was brutal for [the show],” Johnson said. “Then, I think the strike coming out right as we were trying to promote it…My guess is you can’t beat something up that many times and keep going.”

Johnson called the situation “unfortunate” as “there was a lot to that show.” He noted the past tense, as we are here.

“I really loved the cast and the crew and the writers. It was a great group, but I don’t know,” Johnson added. “But by evidence of me cutting my hair short, I don’t [expect a renewal].”

“Minx” is created by Ellen Rapoport, who serves as showrunner. The series follows feminist journalist Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) and her publisher Doug Renetti (Johnson) as they release the first erotic magazine for women.

It’s a real shame in several ways — not the least of which being that Johnson had an ending in mind for his character. He relayed to IndieWire in 2022 that he had told Rapoport he expected Doug to meet his demise due to shady business practices.

“When I was first talking to Ellen about Doug, at the series finale if you [see] where they end up, Doug would be in Florida trying to get on QVC…to flip a really fast product and then, most likely, would end up in the trunk of someone’s car because he crossed the wrong person,” Johnson said. “There’s no way Doug’s story ends in a happy ending.”

IndieWire’s Ben Travers wrote in his review of “Minx” Season 2 that the show didn’t delve as deeply into intersectional office politics as its initial Max season did. “In its clever, highly enjoyable first season, the sex-positive sitcom asks if it’s possible to preserve feminist ideals while working within a patriarchal system,” Travers wrote. “While hovering around topics like toxic female rivalries and exclusionary feminism, Season 2 either neglects to engage fully in these issues or waits too long to do so. Such choices lend the season an emptiness that could be filled with stronger comedic set-ups or pure character development, but instead just lingers, like a slowly deflating balloon.”

OK, so we probably didn’t help.

The review concluded: “‘Minx”s most successful commentary feels like a conscious meta infusion that’s less unique to this particular erotic escapade but still pertinent to its production.”

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