The Wheel of Time's cancellation back in May, just weeks after the season 3 finale that marked the end of the adaptation's strongest season yet. Just when the epic fantasy series was beginning to find its form and reach the potential of Robert Jordan's masterful books, the story was forced into a premature, dissatisfying conclusion, leaving fans of the series confused and distraught.
It turns out audiences aren't the only ones confused about the cancellation, as though Amazon listed financial reasons, showrunner Rafe Judkins finally took to Instagram to express his feelings, saying: "Why was The Wheel of Time canceled? And the truth is, I don't know." On his post, he goes on to offer his solemn feelings not only regarding the show's failure to meet its end goal: concluding Robert Jordan's story, but also about the broader state of television and the loss of long-form narrative in the medium. See his full post below:
What Rafe Judkins' Post Means For The Wheel Of Time
The Show's Future Doesn't Look Bright
Since season 3's ending, fans of the show have worked on a petition that's managed to accumulate over 130,000 signatures, urging Amazon not to cancel the show. This campaign has even rented a billboard in New York's Times Square. Despite the evident ion from a massive viewer base, Judkins' comments are sadly less hopeful. While he expressed that a renewal on another platform wasn't out of the realm of possibility, he noted the infrequency of those occurrences and the unlikelyhood of it happening to The Wheel of Time.
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Our Take On Rafe Judkins' Instagram Post
The Wheel Of Time Is Indicative Of Broader TV Issues
Rafe Judkins' comments extend beyond The Wheel of Time, and I really think that's the meat of his statement. He's a veteran TV producer who's worked on several projects for decades in Hollywood, and he's seen firsthand how the trends of the streaming era work. After Game of Thrones, every studio wanted its own fantasy epic, but they weren't willing to give the stories the patience and time they deserved. He explains that the trend is to push TV toward fewer seasons with fewer episodes in order to attract subscribers, and that the method is detrimental to storytelling.
Production companies are willing to invest massive budgets into their TV shows, but what they're hoping for is quick, lightning-in-a-bottle results like Stranger Things or One Piece. Unfortunately, this method doesn't work for every tale. The Wheel of Time takes time to plant its seeds and grow, which is part of what Judkins was trying to describe. Even though I wasn't a fan of season 1, I'll also it that it took me a significant portion of The Eye of the World to become invested in the books. Season 3 was proof of a positive trend, and it deserved another go.
The Wheel of Time
- Release Date
- November 18, 2021
- Network
- Prime Video
- Showrunner
- Rafe Judkins
Cast
Moiraine Damodred
al'Lan Mandragoran
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Sanaa Hamri, Ciaran Donnelly, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Thomas Napper, Maja Vrvilo, Wayne Che Yip
- Writers
- Amanda Kate Shuman, Dave Hill, Rohit Kumar, Justine Juel Gillmer, Celine Song, Rammy Park, The Clarksons Twins, Katherine B. McKenna
- Franchise(s)
- The Wheel of Time
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