Around this time last year, The Wheel of Time just finished its strongest season of the series by far on Prime Video, and fans—most of us, anyway—were optimistic that The Wheel of Time would be renewed for season 4 very soon.
How could it not? Prime Video invested a lot to bring Robert Jordan's story from his incredible book series to life. Fantasy, as a TV genre, was having its moment in the sun post-Game of Thrones. The Wheel of Time was getting a lot better after a not-so-great start.
Well, out of nowhere on May 23, 2025, everything changed and came crashing down.
Prime Video canceled The Wheel of Time, shocking fans around the world. It's been exactly one year since the cancellation announcement, and it's safe to say fans still aren't over Prime Video's stunning betrayal.
Initially, it looked like there was some potential that The Wheel of Time could be saved by another streamer.
Fans urged Netflix, HBO, and others to try to make a deal to save the series. The cast, including leads Rosamund Pike and Josha Stradowski, pleaded publicly for a chance to continue the series. Fan petitions turned into movements, like SaveWoT, with nearly 250,000 signatures and counting to bring the series back.
One year later, there's been no movement on bringing The Wheel of Time back from the dead, despite fans trying to save the series every day on social media. It is sincerely disappointing given the long leash and renewal orders other fantasy shows, namely The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Harry Potter, have received.
Ultimately, I'm not trying to pick on those shows. There's a place for most of these epic fantasy shows, although I don't know about Harry Potter, but it's very frustrating to have a show like The Wheel of Time canceled when it just delivered its best season and had so much more epic story to tell. And, it's not just me who thinks that.
By almost every critical metric we have online, The Wheel of Time season 3 is rated better than pretty much every recent fantasy release. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, House of the Dragon season 2, The Witcher season 4, The Rings of Power season 2, and more have lower scores on Rotten Tomatoes than The Wheel of Time season 3.
The working theory is that Prime Video's costs for making new seasons were increasing while The Wheel of Time viewership was dropping. We don't have the full scope of the numbers, but the ratings stagnated for season 3. We also know there were more epic battles on the way in the show's future, which likely brings costs up for the studios.
But, like, what are we even talking about here? Prime Video is run by one of the biggest companies in the world, by one of the world's richest men. If Prime Video wanted to keep making The Wheel of Time, it seems like there'd be money available.
For me, the most frustrating part of this whole thing is taking a series as beloved as The Wheel of Time, giving fans a taste of what could be, and then pulling the rug out from under them. Prime Video broke the contract it made with the fans who have loved Jordan's books for decades and the new ones who just discovered this story. At the end of the day, it's a reminder of how soulless the business of TV can be. It's not fair to the crew, cast, creative team, and fans with how this situation continues to play out.
Ultimately, Prime Video likely made a mistake by canceling The Wheel of Time. To save dollars and cents, Prime Video robbed itself of the opportunity for this show to grow, get better, and find a new audience for generations. Now, it's just a half-finished series on a B-tier streaming service. Who would start the show now when it will never have an ending on Prime Video?
One year after The Wheel of Time came to an end on Prime Video, fans are left with the same questions about its ending and hope for the future. Hopefully, in the future, another streamer or studio will step in, see the potential of this story, and actually tell this story from start to finish.
Until that happens, I highly recommend reading Jordan's book series to learn just what happens to Rand, Moiraine, and the rest of these amazing characters.
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