EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video will not be renewing The Wheel of Time for a fourth season. The decision, which comes more than a month after the Season 3 finale was released April 17, followed lengthy deliberations. As often is the case in the current economic environment, the reasons were financial as the series is liked creatively by the streamer’s executives.
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The TV adaptation of the book series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, co-produced by Sony Pictures TV and Amazon MGM Studios, is a high-end, pricey fantasy drama, which ushered in the genre on Prime Video, later joined by The Lord Of the Rings: The Rings Of Power.
Starring Rosamund Pike, The Wheel Of Time got off to a strong start in 2021 as Prime Video’s most watched series premiere of the year and one of the platform’s Top 5 series launches of all time.
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Three seasons in, the series has remained a solid performer but its viewership has slipped, with the fantasy drama dropping out of Nielsen’s Top 10 Originals chart after the first three weeks of Season 3 while staying on the list for the entire runs the previous two seasons. (The Wheel of Time was back on the Originals ranker for the week after the Season 3 finale at #10.)
The Nielsen rankings reflect U.S. viewership. Streaming renewal decisions are made based on how a show does around the world, and The Wheel of Time is a global title. It did rank as #1 on Prime Video in multiple countries with the most recent season. Still, the Season 3 overall performance was not strong enough compared to the show’s cost for Prime Video to commit to another season and the streamer could not make it work after examining different scenarios and following discussions with lead studio Sony TV, sources said.
With the cancellation possibility — and the show’s passionate fanbase — in mind, the Season 3 finale was designed to offer some closure.
Still, the news would be a gut punch for fans who have been praising the latest season as the series’ best yet creatively. Prime Video executives also have spoken of the show getting better creatively every season, which is supported by critics as Season 3 ranks 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, up from 86% for Season 2 and 81% for Season 1.
Prime Video and Sony TV will continue to back the Emmy campaign for The Wheel of Time‘s third season.
The series stars Pike as Moiraine Damodred, Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran, Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al’Meara, Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, Dónal Finn as Mat Cauthon, Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand, Sophie Okonedo as Siuan Sanche, Kate Fleetwood as Liandrin Guirale, Natasha O’Keeffe as Lanfear, Ayoola Smart as Aviendha, Kae Alexander as Min Farshaw, Priyanka Bose as Alanna Mosvani, Taylor Napier (Hanna) as Maksim, Hammed Animashaun as Loial, Meera Syal as Verin Mathwin, Jennifer Cheon Garcia as Leane, Johann Myers as Padan Fain, Jay Duffy as Dain Bornhald, Laia Costa as Moghedien, Isabella Bucceri as Faile Bashere, Olivia Williams as Queen Morgase Trakand, and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan.
The Wheel of Time was adapted for television by executive producer and showrunner Rafe Judkins. Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of iwot productions, Ted Field of Radar Pictures, Mike Weber, Marigo Kehoe, Ciaran Donnelly, Justine Juel Gillmer, Dave Hill and Rosamund Pike also serve as executive producers.
brilliant show and soo impressed how they managed to make these books into a tv show. I really feel they found a way to tell the story in a way where it does right to the books, yet in a way where the story us condensed a lot bc they obviously couldn’t tell everything that’s in the books, bc there’s so many. In season 1 they missed the mark, but season 2 and 3 were pretty amazing in regard to the storyline and acting. Deeply in love with the show and therefore extremely disappointed about Amazon cancelling the show.
They could’ve at least let season 4 be the last, then wrap it up based on the books ending with a war. Why leave it hanging with a major cliff hanger?! TV series that are based on novels tend to detour from the original context. Understandably people who are fans of a book series would not find the tv series as enjoyable, though I like reading as well, I am a visual learner, so the series absolutely worked for me.
I’m a little sad, but not devastated. The actors did very well and got better every season. Being an avid fan of the books, I’d say the writers wrecked the characters and wrecked the plot. If they were trying to improve on the book, they clearly failed. I was interested to see where it went, but obviously it wasn’t good enough. Too bad really. If they’d stuck to the books, they’d gotten and fourth season without difficulty.
The problem is, there is an almost cult like following of this book series. The tv show has deviated pretty far from the core book material. Not everyone liked that.
All I know is I will not be watching any new shows from Amazon Prime Video. I find one I like and it gets canceled again. It has happened more than once to a show I like. So I will just wait for them to put out all the seasons they are going to and then if I feel like it I will watch it. There is no point in being a fan of a show today since 9 times out of 10 they get cancelled. I will stick to the heavy hitters like showtime, HBO, and Max, they only make stuff they plan on seeing through.
Can’t blame you! If it weren’t for a couple other shows I watch on Prime, I would ghost’em too