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‘Renew Infinity Train’ trends as fans implore HBO Max to bring back animated series with creator uncertain

The show has received critical acclaim as well as fan popularity and creator Owen Dennis wants to do eight seasons but so far, HBO Max has neither canceled nor renewed it, causing fans to be stuck in limbo

On September 23, a Twitter user sent a clarion call to all fans of ‘Infinity Train’. They wrote, “ATTENTION: on September 24 at 10:00 am est/7:00am pst we’re going to try to trend RENEW INFINITY TRAIN. If you haven’t seen the show, stream it on HBO Max if you can, it will change your life.” Like clockwork, on Thursday, September 24, the words became a trend -- so much so that Twitter even provided a blurb for it on the trends tab. It read, “Fans of the animated anthology series ‘Infinity Train’ are rallying to get HBO Max to commit to more episodes.”

The animated comedy-drama anthology television series created by Owen Dennis, debuted in November 2016 on the official Cartoon Network YouTube channel. After an overwhelmingly positive reception, Cartoon Network greenlit a full series, which premiered on August 5, 2019. After the first two seasons aired on Cartoon Network, the third was taken over by HBO Max.

The series is set on a gigantic, mysterious and seemingly endless train traveling through a barren landscape, whose cars contain a variety of bizarre, fantastical and impossible environments. Each season (or Book) follows a different set of characters, as they explore the train. The passenger is allowed to leave the train once they’ve reached a level of emotional growth -- a process visualized by the numbers on a passenger’s hand, which decreases as the passenger grows and increases when they regress.

The show has received critical acclaim as well as fan popularity. Thus, for fans, HBO Max not announcing a renewal (or a cancelation) for the show has become a worrying notion. What has amplified these worries is what the show’s creator has to say about its future.

Dennis, speaking to Gizmodo in August, said, “Infinity Train could get picked up for more, but only if it gets a lot of views on HBO Max. If the show gets picked up for more, then I’d love to make more and hire back as many people as we could. If it doesn’t, then I am but tears in the rain.”

He said that most of the ‘Infinity Train’ crew had moved onto other projects because the series still hadn’t been renewed. The main concern, Dennis said, was the idea that kids might not be able to relate to the show because it’s too mature for them. “It’s pretty hard to sell the idea of, ‘Yeah, so we wanna make a story about these teens who lead a cult and don’t view anyone around them as living so they just kill and maim and destroy everything all time so that we can look at another angle of what the previous season talked about -- and also we’re gonna grind someone in a gear. That’s cool, right?’” he said.

But he also said that he strongly believed that he and the rest of the show’s team could “push animation into a more mature direction outside of the purely comedy space. If adults were able to finally understand that comic books aren’t just for children, then they’ll also be able to learn that animation isn’t either.”

He further said, “We have rough ideas for themes and which characters we’d like to follow for five more seasons, up to season eight. Feels like ‘eight’ is a good place to stop because it looks like an infinity symbol.”

On Twitter, fans tried to make a case for the show’s renewal. One fan wrote, “Infinity Train is one of the only cartoons that I've seen deal with death in this way. They actually used the words ‘funeral’ and ‘death’, and went into more detail than most shows even dare to. This scene and others like it are so important. RENEW INFINITY TRAIN,” sharing a clip from the show. Another fan wrote, “This show means a lot to me and a lot of people and i would like to see more of it in the future.” One fan declared, “Infinity Train is one of the best animated anthologies to date. It has so much potential, so many fans turned out to support the series. So needless to say, RENEW INFINITY TRAIN!!”

“In just 30 episodes, INFINITY TRAIN has crafted a vaster, deeper world than most do in well over a hundred. Surely just 50 more 11 min. installments isn't such a huge ask! RENEW INFINITY TRAIN ALREADY, @hbomax!!! Don't let this guy down!” wrote a fan on Twitter. Another tried to portray the virtues of the show, writing, “Book 1: Gave us this amazing show and had a compelling character with a relatable problem. Book 2: Told us to be confident in ourselves and gave us the best group dynamic. Book 3: Showed us the consequences of rejecting change and being manipulative.”

‘Infinity Train’ is currently streaming on HBO Max.