Last week, Amazon hit fantasy TV fans with a bombshell when it canceled The Wheel of Time, its series based on the beloved books by Robert Jordan. This has been an especially difficult cancelation to stomach for a number of reasons, not least of which that the show is hot off the end of its third and by far best season. The Wheel of Time felt like it had found its footing and was only getting better, so it smarts to have the rug pulled out from under us.
Suffice it to say, fans aren't taking it lying down. A website devoted to saving the series called SaveWOT.com launched less than 48 hours after the cancelation. As of this writing, its petition beseeching another streamer to take on the series has already passed 56,000 signatures in just four days. If you haven't already signed it, consider giving the website a look!
The question of whether another streaming service might save The Wheel of Time is on many fans' minds, and for good reason. Such revivals are not unheard of, though they are rare. Of all the streaming services, there's one in particular that seems like an obvious best home for The Wheel of Time: Apple TV+. Let's run through the reasons that Apple would be an ideal studio to continue The Wheel of Time.
1. Apple has a great eye for genre television
While most every major streaming service has taken a stab at having its own big-budget fantasy or sci-fi shows, Apple has had a particularly canny eye for choosing projects. From original fare like Severance and For All Mankind to expansions of known IPs like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters to solid decisions about which adaptations to take on like Foundation, Silo, Dark Matter and Murderbot, Apple has proven time and again that it knows its way around genre television. Other streamers may have had bigger hits, but none have had the consistency or variety of quality sci-fi shows as Apple.
2. Apple doesn't have a big fantasy show yet
That said, there is one big hole in Apple's portfolio: it doesn't have a big-budget fantasy series. While Amazon dumped mountains of money on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time, HBO leaned into its Game of Thrones universe with House of the Dragon, and Netflix invested in shows like The Witcher, One Piece and Shadow and Bone, Apple leaned hard into science fiction instead. That has been very much to Apple's benefit, because they've developed a strong brand identity for thoughtful adult sci-fi. But if the studio wants to expand into fantasy, The Wheel of Time would give it an immediate leg up.
3. The Wheel of Time is a well-oiled production in its prime
Speaking of ways The Wheel of Time would give Apple a leg up in the fantasy space, it's worth reiterating that this is a tried and tested series that has already found its footing. The Wheel of Time got off to a bit of a rocky start in its first season, when it was hit with the COVID pandemic and the subsequent recast of a core character. Season 2 had to undergo a complete rewrite as a result and still managed to make some great improvements on the first. Season 3 is a massive leap ahead that has been lauded critically. At the time of its cancelation, The Wheel of Time is the best its ever been, with a cast and crew that are familiar working with each other and excellent at what they do.
All that is on top of the fact that the next few books in The Wheel of Time series contain some of its most iconic scenes. If Apple picked up the show, they wouldn't be starting at square one with a big fantasy series, but diving right into one at its height when it only stands to get better.
4. Apple could gain tons of extremely loyal new subscribers
The Wheel of Time is a pillar of the epic fantasy book genre which has sold over 100 million copies worldwide. The television show broadened public awareness of the series even further, creating even more fans for the property. But even more than just having lots of fans, The Wheel of Time has lots of rabidly loyal devotees who would absolutely follow the series to a new streaming platform. And since Apple would be saving the series, it could easily turn all those Wheel of Time fans into diehard Apple TV+ fans by proxy. At a time when it's getting harder for streaming services to bring in new customers, The Wheel of Time's fanbase could be a huge boon to Apple.
5. Apple has the deep pockets to make The Wheel of Time
According to the cancelation announcement from Deadline, Prime Video pulled the plug on The Wheel of Time for "financial" reasons. And let's be honest: The Wheel of Time is obviously not a cheap show to produce. The first two seasons cost a reported $260 million to make, and season 3 was bigger and more ambitious than its predecessors. I don't completely buy the idea that Amazon couldn't have capitalized more on the show in the long run to make it worth their while, but to each their own.
The Wheel of Time's price tag means that it's not the sort of show that just any network could pick up. If the show is going to be saved, it has to be by a studio that can afford the substantial cost. Fortunately, Apple is a mega-corporation with capital to spare. Like Amazon, Apple basically runs its streaming service as a side hustle, while its main business components like making iPhones, Mac computers, and software continue to rake in the lion's share of the company's profits. If Apple wants to produce The Wheel of Time, we can safely say they can afford to front the cash for it.
6. Apple supports its series for the long haul
Another huge reason that The Wheel of Time and Apple are a good fit is that Apple TV+ has a track record of supporting its series for the long haul. While streamers like Netflix have developed a reputation for swiftly giving shows the axe before they have a chance to find their footing, Apple has repeatedly invested in shows and renewed them for multiple seasons, often to such a degree that it has honestly surprised me. For All Mankind is one of the best sci-fi shows running right now, although it hasn't gotten a ton of hype (or, presumably, high viewership numbers). Yet Apple continues to renew it and is even launching a spinoff called Star City. Silo has already been renewed for seasons 3 and 4 to see the story through to completion. Severance was given a longer run of nine episodes for its second season, and Foundation is on track to release its third season this summer despite middling reviews for the first two.
Apple has consistently shown that it's a streamer that wants to cultivate shows over time. And as it happens, time to keep telling the story is something The Wheel of Time desperately needs right now.
7. The Wheel of Time deserves to tell its full story
That brings us to the last point on this list, and perhaps the most emotion-driven of the lot. Apple should save The Wheel of Time because The Wheel of Time is an adaptation of one of the most iconic fantasy stories of all time, and it deserves a chance to finish the tale. If this cancelation is final, then it's likely we won't see another studio attempt to adapt The Wheel of Time on this scale for quite a long while, if ever. If Apple swoops in and saves the show, it will generate an enormous amount of goodwill with fans, and simultaneously secure a television series which can serve as a jewel in its crown for years or even decades to come. This is a rare chance for them to capitalize on having an already established show which stands to be an even more important piece of cultural media if it's given the space to actually reach its full potential. Rand al'Thor may be torn between light and darkness, but Apple has the chance to be the hero of this story, if they can only find a way to take a chance on The Wheel of Time!
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