An additional motivation to extend the series comes from Netflix. HBO's global competitor is known for allowing their series to gestate longer to build a critical mass of audience through word of mouth. Cindy Holland, Netflix' Vice President of Original barry finale Content, was quoted as saying, "We've always had an eye toward how a series might play in various international territories. Our goal is to license series that capture the rights for our all territories in which we operate or expect to shortly, and the goal is to have them all work reasonably well in all of our territories."

In addition to "Serangoon Road", HBO is busy with its new series "Grace" starring Russell Wong, Pamelyn Chee and Teresa Daley. HBO is also rumored to be in talks with Eros India CEO Rishika Lulla Singh and with Indonesia's 2013 International Film Festival award-winning writer Devan Simpson for an animated series based in Dubai. HBO declined to comment on any potential series under negotiation. Perhaps understandably so from a competitive standpoint - Netflix' Ms. Holland still laments that "True Detective" was snatched away by HBO. HBO's foray into animation is likely a direct response to the Netflix deal inked last year with Dreamworks Animation for 300 hours of streaming animated tv series content. Clearly, the competition for content that resonates internationally is not only driving up the costs for licensing rights and determining what gets developed, but also affording the creators of content more time to build a sustainable global audience.