The Wheel of Time showrunner took to Instgarm today to talk about the show’s cancellation publicly for the first time. In his emotional message, Judkins shared that he doesn’t know why the show was cancelled and expressed gratitude for the cast, crew, and fans. He pointed to the show’s success, mentioning that it spent 20 weeks in the Nielsen Top 10 during its three-season run.
In an exclusive published in late May, Deadline reported that Prime Video had cancelled The Wheel of Time, and that the reasons for the cancellation were financial in nature.
Judkins said his goal from the start was to adapt the full story of The Wheel of Time book series. He expressed frustration that the team was not given the opportunity to finish telling that story. “We made many sacrifices, both personal and creative, along the way to get to that ending, so coming up short feels like a devastating blow for all of us” Judkins said.
He also commented on the “larger trend in TV toward fewer seasons with less episodes” as streaming platforms seek faster subscriber growth. Judkins argued that this trend goes against the strengths of long-form storytelling, especially in something like epic fantasy. But his optimism about finding a way back from this shift seems to have been placed at the industry level, and not The Wheel of Time show itself.
As to what the future holds for The Wheel oF Time, Judkins lamented that it isn’t often that cancelled shows get picked up by other networks. But he did end with a glimmer of hope, noting that this has happened before with shows like The Expanse.
Where Does this Us?
Judkin’s message made no mention of negotiations or attempts aimed at saving the show. And after TVLine reported that “well-placed sources confirm for Inside Line that the fantasy saga is not being shopped after being cancelled at Prime Video” it seems that the show is less likely to be revived, unless fan efforts pay off, which remains to be a long shot.
Fans of The Wheel of Time have set up a website, savewot.com, which has collected over 135,000 signatures for a petition addressed to the Sony (the rights holder), Amazon Prime Video (which reportedly cancelled the show), and potential streaming platforms like Apple TV. The campaign has also raised more than $21,000 in GoFundMe donations in less than two days in support of an out-of-home marketing campaign, including billboards and sky banners in multiple cities.
Since there’s no clear indication of movement from Sony, Amazon, or any potential new streamers, our view at WotSeries is that any effort to bring the show back must follow a multi-pronged approach: apply pressure on Sony as the rights holder to shop the series to other platforms, urge Amazon to reconsider its cancellation decision, and demonstrate the show’s ongoing appeal to other streamers by highlighting the loyalty and passion of its global fanbase. Whether this will be enough remains to be seen, but for now it is a path forward.
Editorial note: Staff members form WotSeries, including the writer of this article, are actively engaged in and helping with the SaveWot effort.
I am a long-time fantasy fan. Also a technology generalist with a knack for research. A mix of Brown, Blue, and Yellow Ajah.
Sony are not even shopping around somewhere else for this??!! Are they done with the ip?? When the expanse was cancelled I think alcon productions(??) started shopping around quite early on. This is going to be an uphill battle if there ever was one!!
There seems to be parts of this article that are missing.
The last two paragraphs appear to be almost repeats of each other.
The last section header is missing a word.