When HBO Max subscribers signed on to the streaming service Sunday to watch the highly anticipated finale of Mare of Easttown, many discovered that the platform was down. According to TVLine, many fans flocked to social media to express their complaints about not being able to watch anything on HBO Max.
Fortunately for fans, the issues seemed to be fixed 30 minutes after the episode was released at 10 pm ET, via TVLine. The issues did not appear to affect viewers tuning in to the finale through their Hulu accounts with HBO add-ons. An HBO Max spokesperson eventually responded to the issues, stating “some HBO Max users experienced Intermittent service disruptions this evening, but the issue was quickly resolved and service has been restored” (TVLine).
Mare of Easttown follows Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) as Mare Sheehan, police investigator attempting to hold her life together while uncovering the responsible parties behind gruesome murders within her small northeastern town. According to TVLine, the series has done incredibly well for HBO Max, with the finale ultimately garnering two million viewers across all platforms.
Additionally, via TVLine, the series managed to grow for five weeks straight leading up to the finale, and landed itself as the most watched series on HBO Max for three weeks culminating in the episode released on May 23. Mare of Easttown‘s immense popularity led many subscribers to speculate that the series’ large fanbase was responsible for crashing the streaming service. While this has not been confirmed by anyone at HBO or HBO Max, the fan theories persist as evidenced by their tweets following the Sunday night premiere. Several point out how HBO Max’s more prominent specials or movie releases, such as the recent Friends reunion special and the release of Zach Snyder’s Justice League did not similarly affect the platform.