Prime Video cancels hit fantasy series ‘The Wheel of Time’ after its best season yet
We thought “The Wheel of Time” season 3 was its best season yet, and last month’s explosive finale left us excited for more. Sadly, we won’t be getting any, since Amazon won’t be renewing its hit fantasy drama for a fourth season.
The decision came after “lengthy deliberations,” Deadline reported this week, as the streamer’s executives enjoyed what the programming offered. However, high fantasy can come with high production costs, and viewership slipped with season 3 to a point that Prime Video could not justify a season 4 commitment.
Co-produced by Sony Pictures TV and Amazon MGM Studios, “The Wheel of Time” is an adaptation of the much-loved fantasy book series of the same name by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. We count it as one of the best Prime Video shows, so it’s frustrating to see it get the axe.
Granted, the first two seasons got off to a rocky start thanks to notable deviations from the source material that sparked backlash from fans of the books. If we’re talking viewership, though, it was a verified hit, becoming Prime Video’s most-watched series premiere of the year in 2021 and one of its top five series launches of all time.
Season 3 marked a high point that seemed to finally win over the fanbase. It earned a near-perfect 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest for the series yet, and was equally popular among audiences.
“I think it’d be hard to argue that this third chapter hasn’t been bigger and better than ever, and that meant this finale felt huge,” my colleague Martin Shore wrote in his “The Wheel of Time” season 3 finale review. “The finale hurtled along at a clip, constantly delivering more spectacle, more reveals and more terrific performances.”
Now Prime Video’s “Lord of the Rings” prequel, “The Rings of Power,” is the streamer’s sole remaining fantasy series in production. Prime Video has officially renewed “The Rings of Power” for a third season, so fantasy fans will have that to look forward to at least.
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