A planned television series about the early days of Elon Musk and his company SpaceX will not move forward at HBO. Ashlee Vance, author of the biography the show was based on, announced that the project has ended at the network. He stated he is now looking for a new place to produce the series.
Vance shared the news in a post on the social media platform X on December 3, 2025. He wrote that the “long-running project with HBO has died”. The series was first reported to be in development at HBO in October 2020. However, sources familiar with the project say HBO decided not to proceed with it several years ago.
What the Planned Series Was About
The limited series was set to be a six-episode drama based on Vance’s 2015 book, Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. The story was going to focus on the founding and difficult early years of SpaceX, the private rocket company started by Musk.
The official description for the show said it would follow Elon Musk “as he handpicks a team of engineers to work on a remote Pacific Island where they build, and launch, the first SpaceX rocket into orbit”. The series was planned to end with a major historical event: the first manned SpaceX launch of the Falcon 9 rocket on May 30, 2020. This mission successfully carried NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.
Behind-the-Scenes Team and Current Status
The project had attracted notable talent behind the camera. The production company Free Association, founded by actor Channing Tatum, was attached to produce. The scripts were written by Doug Jung, known for his work on Star Trek Beyond and Mindhunter. Executive producers were set to include Vance, Tatum, and others from Free Association.
“We were going to make a dramatized series about the early days of @elonmusk and @SpaceX. Had some wonderful scripts. They were smart and funny and true to life. I imagine it would have been a massive hit,” Vance wrote on X.
Despite this team, HBO stopped development. The network has declined to comment on Vance’s recent announcement. Vance has confirmed that the intellectual property rights for his book have returned to him. He is now actively looking for another network or streaming service to take on the project.
“If there are serious offers out there to make something amazing, my mind and inbox are open,” Vance stated.
Author’s View on Why the Project Ended
In his social media posts, Ashlee Vance suggested a reason for the project’s cancellation beyond typical Hollywood delays. He implied that Musk’s current public image may have become a factor.
“Hollywood is hard. And HBO went through too many gyrations for this one to keep the requisite energy. People also seem afraid to make something about Elon,” Vance wrote.
This statement points to the challenge of creating a show about a figure who has become increasingly polarizing. When the series was first announced in 2020, Musk was primarily seen as a tech entrepreneur. In the years since, he purchased the social media platform Twitter (now X), adopted more public political positions, and his public persona has shifted. Vance suggests this change might make studios hesitant to tell his story.
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Fan Reaction and What Happens Next
Vance’s announcement on X gathered significant attention, with his post receiving hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of likes. The reaction online was mixed. Some users agreed with Vance’s perspective, expressing disappointment that a series about SpaceX’s origin story would not be made. Others questioned the timing of his announcement, since reports indicate HBO passed on the project years prior.
The future of the series is now uncertain but not impossible. With the rights back under his control, Vance can shop the project to other platforms. Whether another major streamer will commit to a dramatized series about Elon Musk remains an open question. For now, a detailed screen version of SpaceX’s early struggles to build a rocket and make history is on hold.
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