Amazon insider says The Peripheral “should have been canceled”

Amazon Prime Video has been having a rough time in the media of late. A scathing new report from The Hollywood Reporter has exposed more than a little discontent at the streaming studio. The biggest news to come out of it was the fact that only 37% of U.S. viewers who started watching The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power made it all the way to the end, falling well short of the 50% completion rate that Amazon would have considered a “solid but not spectacular result.”

But there were other important things to be gleaned from the report. For instance, one Amazon insider shared their opinion that the science fiction drama The Peripheral “probably should have been canceled.” Ouch.

Apparently, Amazon has a problem with “star-f**king”

The Peripheral is the latest sci-fi show from producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, best known for creating Westworld at HBO. Joy and Nolan signed a sweeping deal with Amazon a while back to produce multiple new television series, including The Peripheral and a show based on the hit Fallout video games.

The Peripheral had a solid first season, but apparently the numbers didn’t look exceptional, which is why Amazon dragged their feet for a few months before renewing it. According to THR, the first season of The Peripheral cost around $175 million to produce; that’s even more than the $140 million it cost Nolan and Joy to make season 4 of Westworld at HBO, which underperformed so badly that the show was unceremoniously canceled ahead of its fifth and final season.

We don’t know exactly how many people watched The Peripheral, since streamers tend to be cagey with sharing that sort of data. Amazon has renewed the series for a six-episode second season, but according to one insider, “It probably should have been canceled.”

"But they made a megadeal and the political capital they would lose with Lisa and Jonah would be too great. And they have other shows coming."

The Fallout show is also “extremely expensive,” according to a source. One insider called the deal with Nolan and Joy the worst example of Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke’s mantra that Amazon is “a home for talent.’” The way the insider sees it, “We cede decisions to powerful producers. We hold the line on other producers who do great work for us.”

This kind of makes it sound like Amazon execs feared Joy and Nolan would have thrown a tantrum and intentionally tanked Fallout if The Peripheral were canceled, which I don’t think is giving them enough credit given how long they’ve been in the television game. But according to the report, this problem extends far beyond Joy and Nolan, and is indicative of unrest at Amazon over how the studio prioritizes appeasing superstar producers over everyone else.

One anonymous showrunner who is working with Amazon summed it up with a colorful turn of phrase: “They don’t learn from their mistakes. They [say], ‘We can’t do any more deals like that.’ You turn around and they’re right back to — the impolite term is ‘star-fucking.'”

Is Amazon Studios in trouble?

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the issue lies here, but the one thing everyone interviewed by THR seems to agree on is that there is an issue that’s starting to cause a schism at Amazon. According to the report, there seems to be a lot of confusion about what exactly the studio is looking for in its content; there’s no clear message or type of show that is a “Prime Video show.”

As a result, Amazon is catering to big producers in hopes they can make hits. For instance, THR points to a three-year deal with Phoebe Waller-Bridge for $20 million per year, which was signed right after she took home six Emmy’s for season 2 of Fleabag. That deal was created so that Waller-Bridge could collaborate with Donald Glover on a Mr. and Mrs. Smith TV show, based on the 2005 movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

However, a short while later, Glover and Waller-Bridge split due to creative differences and the Mr. and Mrs. Smith show was seemingly shelved. Amazon ended up renewing Waller-Bridge’s deal in order to produce a Tomb Raider show, but that still meant it spent years paying big bucks for a series that never happened. While head of television Vernon Sanders pushed back on the assertion that this deal was a mistake (“[Waller-Bridge’s] proven that when she does deliver, she delivers”), it’s stoked a lot of internal discord.

According to one executive, the problems started when Salke first took charge at Amazon. “She shot from the hip, she went with her gut, and she didn’t let data overrule her,” they said. “But she hired a staff that was in over their heads in terms of being able to get those shows produced at a number. I think if we had [FX boss] John Landgraf or [HBO’s] Casey Bloys or somebody who had more credibility and direct interaction with the development of shows, it would be so much easier to spend less. But we kind of act like it doesn’t matter if we have deep conversations with talent. A guy like Donald Glover would think, ‘No way in hell I’m doing a deal with these guys unless they overpay me.’ I know we’re third or fourth on their priority list. Agents are direct about it: ‘You guys pay a premium for being Amazon.’ They have clients who would much rather work at other places.”

Are these the growing pains of a studio figuring out its brand identity, or signs that things are starting to go off the rails? Time will tell.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t ScreenRant