First, it’s The Bondsman. Now, it’s The Wheel of Time.
In a plot twist that even the Dark One couldn’t have foreseen, Amazon Prime Video has officially canceled The Wheel of Time after three seasons. Despite a strong cast led by the talented Rosamund Pike and a third season that earned a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the high fantasy series has met its untimely end.
The Wheel of Time Canceled After Three Seasons
The Wrap reported that the fantasy TV show adaptation of the novel series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson will not have another season at the streaming platform. This comes after the platform confirmed it renewed its other big-budget fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a third season. Reports suggest producing The Wheel of Time is costly, compared to its viewership performance. This is ironic, however, since The Wheel of Time Season 3 has fans and critics commenting that it is a huge improvement over the first two seasons.
Although Season 3 saw its viewership decline, compared to its first season, which made it one of Prime Video’s most-watched series premieres of 2021.
Rosamund Pike: “Amazon and Sony are Incredibly Lucky to Have this One”
In an interview with 13News before news of the cancellation, Pike said, “As I keep saying, there is no other property like The Wheel of Time out there. There are very few of these truly global fantasy IPs out there. And Amazon and Sony are incredibly lucky to have this one.”
She added, “It’s interesting that while season 3 mirrors a lot of the storylines in book four—which is when the series really took off as a literary property, that’s when a huge volume of fans discovered The Wheel of Time. I really hope that we get to continue this journey because the fans deserve it, the books deserve it, and our actors deserve it.”
Co-star Daniel Henney said the same in his TechRadar interview: “We’re just hopeful and have all of our fingers crossed. Season 3 is something we’re incredibly proud of. Watching it back, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.”
Showrunner Rafe Judkins even hoped the series would go on for six or seven seasons: “I’m sure everyone will be happy if they’re like, ‘Oh, can you just do a satisfying ending in season 4 because we don’t make shows that long anymore.’”
Judkins added, “The truth is, the property doesn’t lend itself well to that. My job is to do everything I can to get it to the end and give you Jordan’s ending because it’s so powerful. It really does stick the landing,” per Games Radar.
Here’s to hoping the Light guides this show to a new streaming home.
