Sad news for fantasy fans, as The Wheel of Time has been canceled at Prime Video just a month after the season 3 finale. As reported by Deadline, the reasons are purely financial, as Amazon executives were apparently happy with the show’s creative direction.
The Wheel of Time was based on the venerable book series by beloved author Robert Jordan, who created the series and wrote the first 11 of 14 volumes, with author Brandon Sanderson finishing book 12, which was partially finished by Jordan prior to his 2007 death, and writing books 13 and 14 to finish out the series.
The story focuses on Rand al’Thor and his friends as he comes to grips with having rare magical abilities and a destiny that could endanger the entire world, under the guidance of Moiraine Damodred, a member of a secretive mystic order.
The series’ expansive cast included Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor, Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred, Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran, 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 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.
Fans of the series will undoubtedly mourn the all-too-short three season run of a show based on an epic book series that ran for decades. But that’s a downside of the current media era’s rush to find the next big franchise and push it to streaming, where they just as quickly rush back off after just a few seasons.
Don’t worry though – The Wheel of Time will live on in the form of an upcoming open world AAA RPG.
