The Wheel of Time has been cancelled after three seasons, a move that will certainly draw the ire of the show’s fans and make Amazon the latest pariah among streaming services. That show has spent five weeks in the Nielsen Streaming Rankings in its third season, though it did drop out of the Top 10 the fourth week after its premiere. But it returned the next week and has averaged an estimated 474 million minutes of viewing per week, which is on par with what it had in its second season. The show has not made it into the Top 5 in its third season, but it also has not experienced a notable drop off in viewership.
| Weeks in Top 5 | Weeks in Top 10 | Avg Viewership (M) | |
| Season 1 | 7 | 8 | 613 |
| Season 2 | 3 | 6 | 472 |
| Season 3 | 0 | 5 | 474 |
The Wheel of Time performed best in its first year, but that is typical of most shows. Viewership tends to decline in subsequent seasons whether the show is on streaming or one of the linear networks. I would have expected Amazon to at least give this one a fourth and final season to wrap up as many storylines as it could, but now they are going to leave the fans hanging. Showrunner Rafe Judkins had previously indicated that he envisioned the series running for around eight seasons, which seemed like a stretch, and I figured it might cap off around its fifth season. But this is an expensive series to produce, and Amazon is committed to the even more expensive The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power through its fifth season. So perhaps The Wheel of Time became the sacrifice to the television gods.
The series is co-produced by Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television, so I don’t know if there is a chance that it could switch venues, especially since most streamers are shying away from expensive productions these days. But fans should certainly make some noise on the social networks in support of the show, and perhaps Amazon can be convinced to at least greenlight a final season. Fans should also vote for it in our Spring Save My Show poll as those numbers will be shared with the streaming services and networks.
This announcement brings the Cancellation/Renewal Score for the current season to 17 cancelled and ending sci fi and fantasy entries (29% of shows tracked) vs. 28 renewed (47%). You can see the breakdown of the numbers and the full list of shows for the current and prior seasons on our Cancellation Watch Page.
The Wheel of Time follows a woman known as Moiraine who is a powerful Aes Sedai in a world where magic exists but only certain women can wield it. She must guide a group of young villagers–one of whom may be the prophesied Dragon Reborn–on a perilous journey to confront a rising darkness. It stars Rosamund Pike, Daniel Henney, Zoë Robins, Madeleine Madden, Josha Stradowski, and Marcus Rutherford and it is based on the book series by Robert Jordan
There are only a few months left in the current season, and I expect more announcements are on the way as the streaming services and networks get their schedules set for next year. Be sure to stay tuned to CancelledSciFi.com and our social media sites for updates and breaking news, and also vote for your favorite shows from the current season in our Spring poll.
Keep up with the status of all the current sci fi and fantasy shows as well as news and updates on new and upcoming shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
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