‘The Wheel of Time’ Canceled at Amazon’s Prime Video After Three Seasons

The Wheel of Time has been canceled after three seasons at Amazon‘s Prime Video streamer.

The series, from Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios and based on Robert Jordan’s best-selling series of fantasy novels, aired its third-season finale on April 17.

At the time, showrunner Rafe Judkins, who adapted the series for television, addressed the show’s uncertain future.
Judkins said he’d been asking Amazon, “What is the end game for the show? I really want to deliver this full series, so how do we best do that?”

He argued that part of why he and his creative team chose Amazon was because the streamer “felt like a place where they do want to invest in shows for the long term. There are not a lot of places doing that anymore. For Wheel of Time, it’s really important for us to be somewhere that does want to invest in shows for the long term and not just for the splash and leave.”

He added that he hoped to be able to “finish this story” and spoke about how the season finale included a “lot of place-setting” for the next season, suggesting that Friday’s cancellation news will end things prematurely, though the season three finale did wrap some major storylines.

“I think it’s a story that in many ways is important because of its length, and because it gets better as it goes,” Judkins said. “The books get better as they go and the show is getting better as it goes. I think we can continue that arc if we’re allowed to continue. But it is different [now]. Television’s moving in a direction where things just come in, splash and leave. But the history of television is that its strength is longform storytelling; that you stick with it and you love these characters and you follow them through 60 to 100 hours.

That’s where television has its strength. That’s where it’s better than movies, at telling those kinds of stories. So I’m hopeful for our industry that shows like Wheel of Time do get to tell the whole story. I think it’s important for television. It’s what we do best, and so we should be finishing these stories.”

The third season, which was based primarily on The Shadow Rising, the fourth book in Robert Jordan’s novels, was described as follows by Prime Video ahead of its debut: “The powerful Aes Sedai, Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), is tormented by her visions of the future, and Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) struggles to fulfill his destiny as the Dragon Reborn — will he choose the Light or let the Darkness consume him? Season three will take viewers to many new regions and cities across the fictional continent of the Westlands, including the vast deserts of the Aiel Waste, the intoxicating and dangerous port city of Tanchico, and the forbidden and fog-shrouded ancient city of Rhuidean, where Rand and Moiraine will both experience life-changing revelations. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, in Rand’s small hometown of Two Rivers, his lifelong friend Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) will also embark on a personal journey, one which will change him forever.”

The show’s cast also features Daniel Henney, Zoë Robins, Dónal Finn, Ceara Coveney, Kate Fleetwood, Ayoola Smart and Kae Alexander. The third season saw Shohreh Aghdashloo join as Elaida do Avriny a’Roihan, a powerful member of the Aes Sedai. New additions for season three also included Olivia Williams, Luke Fetherston, Callum Kerr, Nuno Lopes, Isabella Bucceri, Nukâka Coster-Waldau, Salóme Gunnarsdóttir, Björn Landberg and Synnøve Macody Lund.

Judkins served as executive producer with Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon of Iwot Productions; Ted Field of Radar Pictures; and Mike Weber, Marigo Kehoe, Ciaran Donnelly, Justine Juel Gillmer, Dave Hill and Pike.