Max’s Tokyo Vice is hanging up the badge after two seasons, but its creator still has a desire to tell more of the story.
As reported by Variety, the noir thriller’s cancelation was confirmed by Max original programming chief Sarah Aubrey, series creator and executive producer J.T. Rodgers, and director and executive producer Alan Poul during the Produced By conference today. They say the decision to end before Season 3 was mutual and decided in an effort to support the storytelling.
"To know you’d have the two-season arc was really wonderful," Rogers said.
Rogers and Poul also released a joint statement with the announcement of the show’s end that thanked Max for its support. They say the company stood by them when making major, potentially controversial story decisions.
“Over the last five years Max has made sure we got to tell our story,” they said. “They have supported us through thick and thin. Not only did they give us these two seasons, they said yes when we asked to end season one with a series of cliffhangers, and they said yes when we asked for two extra episodes so we could land the plane in the way J.T. had always envisioned.”
The statement continues: “We’re grateful not only to Max, but to our partners Fifth Season, who sold the show around the world, and made it a global success story. They were in the trenches with us always, guaranteeing that we could make the show we wanted to make. The response from both the press and from fans, in particular to Season 2, has been overwhelming. It’s been thrilling to find out how deeply viewers have engaged with our characters, and to hear how they are clamoring for more.”
Rogers and Poul tease, though, that they would like to continue with more Tokyo Vice in the future. The when and where have yet to be decided, and it’s currently unclear if the show will officially return at all:
“We know there is more story to tell. Of course we’ll see what the future holds, but we are indeed grateful to have been able to share this story on Max until now.”
Tokyo Vice Season 1 premiered in 2022 and starred Ansel Elgort as Jake Adelstein and Ken Watanabe as Hiroto Katagiri. Season 2 then followed in February 2024 before wrapping up in April. We enjoyed the first three episodes of Tokyo Vice, giving them an 8/10 in our review. At the time, we said, “Tokyo Vice crackles with Michael Mann's neon-cool intensity while also, for better or worse, feeling like a nostalgia project.”
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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