It hurts my soul to write these words, but it's official so there's no getting around it: Prime Video has canceled The Wheel of Time, its sweeping fantasy series based on the books by Robert Jordan, after three seasons. This news comes from Deadline, which received word from their sources that Amazon and Sony have decided not to renew the show after "lengthy deliberations" to try to find a path forward.
According to Deadline, the reasons for The Wheel of Time's cancelation are "financial" in nature; they emphasize that executives are very happy with the show creatively, but the numbers seemingly aren't in its favor. While The Wheel of Time got off to a strong start — it was the most watched series premiere on Prime Video in 2021 during its first season and one of the top 5 series launches of all time for the streamer — the Deadline article claims its viewership fell by the time of season 3. This in spite of the fact that it was #1 in multiple countries around the world, appeared for several weeks in Nielsen soundscan's top 10, and more. Deadline states that its viewership has remained "solid," but lower than the previous two seasons, and not strong enough to justify its production costs.
Now, that may be true. But I won't lie to you: I'm pissed about this cancelation. Prime Video went all in on trying to find the next Game of Thrones, investing billions of dollars into high-budget fare like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and The Wheel of Time. With its third season, The Wheel of Time proved that it actually had the mettle to go the distance. Season 3 has been acclaimed critically, with a very high 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and its highest-rated episodes of all time on IMDb. It's also generating Emmy buzz at the moment, thanks in no small part to episodes like "The Road to the Spear," one of the best hours of television I've seen in a long, long time. Of course, Deadline states that Prime Video will continue to support the show's season 3 Emmy run, because surely there's nothing wrong with trying to rack up awards for a show that you've already decided to can, right?
I also can't help but note the cowardly way this news is coming out, at 3:00 p.m. on a Friday. If you're not super keyed into the film industry, you may not be aware of this, but studios releasing cancelation news like this at the end of a work week is one way they try to mitigate the backlash, hoping it will slip under the radar. There has been a concerted fan campaign to pressure Amazon and Sony into renew the series since it aired its finale on April 17, with more than 150,000 letters sent to the executives there urging them to continue the show. Alas, those pleas fell on deaf ears.
This is the most rattled I've been by a television show cancelation in quite some time. The Wheel of Time had plenty of speed bumps during its run, especially in its first season when it had to deal with the COVID pandemic and recasting one of its core cast members mid-production. But by this point, it has firmly found its footing and established itself as the premiere fantasy show of the moment.
On top of that — and I say this without hyperbole — adapting Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time is easily the most significant fantasy production on television right now. Jordan's books are a pillar of the genre, and adapting them was always going to be a difficult proposition that could stand the test of time if done well. For Prime Video's show to have gotten this far and gotten so much better over the course of its run, only to have the plug pulled now, feels like an absolutely baffling misstep by Prime Video. Calling it shortsighted doesn't do it justice. This is like having the golden goose egg in your hand and making an omelette out of it because you can't see its potential.
One more thing I'll vent about. Deadline states that "the Season 3 finale was designed to offer some closure," which to me says that Amazon and Sony were already considering canceling The Wheel of Time before it even aired. And let's just call that statement what it is: complete and utter nonsense. Season 3 did not end with any sort of closure whatsoever; we're not deep enough into the story for that to even be remotely possible.
All this is to say, Amazon canceled the best fantasy show it had, and with it any interest I had in Prime Video as a streaming service. Hopefully some other studio recognizes the potential here and saves The Wheel of Time. But for now, I'll simply be canceling my Prime Video subscription and sitting with my anger for a while.
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