Amazon Cancels the 'Wheel of Time' Prime Video Series After 3 Seasons (deadline.com) 60
Long-time Slashdot reader SchroedingersCat shares this article from Deadline: Prime Video will not be renewing The Wheel of Time for a fourth season according to Deadline article. The decision, which comes more than a month after the Season 3 finale was released April 17, followed lengthy deliberations. As often is the case in the current economic environment, the reasons were financial as the series is liked creatively by the streamer's executives...
The Season 3 overall performance was not strong enough compared to the show's cost for Prime Video to commit to another season and the streamer could not make it work after examining different scenarios and following discussions with lead studio Sony TV, sources said. With the cancellation possibility — and the show's passionate fanbase — in mind, the Season 3 finale was designed to offer some closure. Still, the news would be a gut punch for fans who have been praising the latest season as the series' best yet creatively... Prime Video and Sony TV will continue to back the Emmy campaign for The Wheel of Time's third season.
The Season 3 overall performance was not strong enough compared to the show's cost for Prime Video to commit to another season and the streamer could not make it work after examining different scenarios and following discussions with lead studio Sony TV, sources said. With the cancellation possibility — and the show's passionate fanbase — in mind, the Season 3 finale was designed to offer some closure. Still, the news would be a gut punch for fans who have been praising the latest season as the series' best yet creatively... Prime Video and Sony TV will continue to back the Emmy campaign for The Wheel of Time's third season.
I guess i will watch it now. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: I guess i will watch it now. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1, Informative)
I watched about 20 minutes of the first episode when it first aired. I concluded the world was all powerful women where men just suck and turned it off.
Glad I did.
Re: (Score:2)
This tells me you haven't read the books.
That is one of the main plots of the source material.
You wouldn't want them to mess with what the author wrote would you?
Re: (Score:3)
Same here. Knowing that there's no cliffhanger end, I am more inclined to watch it.
I haven't read the books but a mate of mine has and is positive about them, so it's on my to read / to watch list for when I have the time.
Re: (Score:3)
Skip the Netflix trash and read the books instead. The books are much better than the series they tried to make.
It's almost as bad as the Sword of Truth series someone tried. Good books - bad television.
Re: (Score:2)
Skip the Netflix trash and read the books instead. The books are much better than the series they tried to make.
They've done alright so far with Three Body Problem compared to the books. I'd compare it to Orson Scott Card, "The Abyss" which I read before the movie and was impressed how well they matched the book, right down to the Garfield handing onto the inside of a dome glass portal in the station.
Investing in stories that are good and get cancelled really is the biggest thing that turns me off Netflix, or any streaming service.
Re: (Score:2)
Skip the Netflix trash and read the books instead.
The books are terrible. I had a good go at the first, and made it less than half way through before giving up. The series is way, way better.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
And if an episode is poorly received, they can just remake it almost instantly.
Re: (Score:3)
At least they won't be canceled mid-plotline.....
I'm looking at you WestWorld.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Meh, if it's fun while it lasts that's fine (Score:2)
With wheel of Time if you like the show you've got I think literally decades of books you can read. I haven't read the series but I think it's got a definitive end. So you're better off than the
Re: (Score:2)
As an anime nerd I'm used to shit getting canceled.
I liked things like The Matrix and Evangelion, mostly because it was good sci fi. I saw Death Note which was pretty cool however after a few others I kinda lost my way. Any suggestions?
Re: Meh, if it's fun while it lasts that's fine (Score:2)
Re: I guess i will watch it now. (Score:1)
The wheel of time is such a huge story line I have no idea what they were thinking
other than not one single person involved in any decision making actually read any of the books. 3 seasons can't even cover a single book properly and there are 15 books currently. There was absolutely no way this was going to play out for the investors. I knew that from the second it was announced regardless of my excitement of the show. If a single book is 30 plus hours to read it'll never be a successful series. They are
Re: (Score:3)
If a single book is 30 plus hours to read it'll never be a successful series.
To be fair, at least around 1/5 or even 1/3 of each book is
- Recaps of stuff that happened as the storytelling pans towards PoV character.
- Descriptions of scenery.
- Slow as hell travel scenes
On TV, you can skip the recaps, scenery is implicit, and the travel montages can be made much faster.
I mean, story summaries are pretty much:
- Book 1, works as an independent story, the three country boys
Re: (Score:2)
I don't watch any prime or any netflix shows until they go seasons end. Whats the point to get invested in something that will probably get canceled without any kind of closure?
So many people must feel the same, I thought exactly the same thing.
I know they other services are little different but prime and netflix is as soulless as they come.
In 2016 I had to recover from spinal surgery for 10 months and (Doctors orders) do nothing so I watched Netflix and it did feel a bit soul sucking after a while. I could not watch any streaming service for a long time after that and found other things to do.
Watching it now, I kinda wonder what the rug pull is gonna look like and when it is coming.
Re: (Score:2)
It depends on the show. Star Trek Prodigy is basically cancelled now, but each season is a complete story so it's not as bad as it could have been. And what we did get was amazing. Legitimately some of the best Trek ever made. It did more for some of the Voyager characters than 7 seasons of that show managed to, as well as having its own very compelling original cast.
Things that are adapted from a series of books are much more risky. Anything that I'm not really excited about usually has to wait to see if t
"The Current Economic Environment" (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's a business, the reasons for renewing or cancelling a show are always financial no matter the environment.
I took the comment to mean as compared to say... 5 or 6 years ago, when these streamers were all willing to take a loss to establish a base of subscribers. Now they've got the market penetration they're going to get, and it's time to start looking at costs versus profits.
Uh no. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
It's a business, the reasons for renewing or cancelling a show are always financial no matter the environment.
Yes, and many people don't get it when their favorite show is cancelled (as it is all about them; the problem is that the viewing audience is also counted as just them). While many can discuss whether the economics of scripted episodic content is sustainable in the long term (it probably is not, with the occasional breakout exception), the reality is most execs realize people will watch (cheap) crap and one can still get your C-level bonus.
Of course (Score:2)
Stories have power.
But then, so do Studio bottom lines. Great show. Happy for the three seasons.
FFS (Score:4, Insightful)
The Wheel of Time was the good fantasy series on Prime. I guess it made The Rings of Power look even worse in comparison.
Re:FFS (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As someone with terminal bowel cancer, I can assure you, I'd rather watch Rings of Power than go through this shit. It's not even close either.
Very disappointed, (Score:2)
As poor an adaptation of Jordan (and Sanderson)'s books this was, I still found it very entertaining. Was looking forward to the next season for it.
Re:Very disappointed, (Score:5, Funny)
As poor an adaptation of Jordan (and Sanderson)'s books this was, I still found it very entertaining. Was looking forward to the next season for it.
What do you mean a poor adaptation? The books didn’t actually end because the author died 11 books and thousands of pages in, leaving audiences hanging. Now the series dies after three seasons leaving us all hanging again, I mean it did capture the essential element at least.
Re:Very disappointed, (Score:5, Informative)
The books were finished by Brandon Sanderson on volume 14, and if I do say so his contribution was actually a big positive. The pace was lethargic and full of detours into Aes Sedai politics in the last few volumes by Jordan. Sanderson brought the main story back into focus and got the ball rolling on the Last Battle.
The TV series meddled too much with the main characters to fit the spirit of the books beginnings, and the casting choices we detrimental to the setting of the story.
I don't think you can avoid that kind of meddling (Score:3)
There's a lot of things you can do in print that's basically impossible in movies and tv.
The ents are probably the best example. You have literally pages and pages of them calmly meandering and doing fuck all and it's all gets to a point where it's really silly.
Then they make their decisio
Re: Very disappointed, (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I hated it.
I loved Jordan's rambling and would happily have read another 10 book tbh.
what? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Sanderson came in and cleared out the rat's nest of plot lines Jordan had bogged himself down with and ended the series on a much better note. The final ending was a little surprising, but from what I understand, Jordan had already written the ending when he started the series, so it's what he intended.
Re: (Score:2)
His ending was tacked on garbage. I read it but I only consider the Jordan books canon (for me)
And yes, don't bother telling me he used Jordan's notes - I know.
OTOH (Score:3)
Re: Very disappointed, (Score:3)
Jordan's original idea was a trilogy.
in the third book Rand is supposed to get balefire and then that's it. He wins.
he was successful with the books so he drew the whole thing out the same way that GRRM is doing.
Just read the book. (Score:2)
But make sure sure you have enough time - it's 14 heavyweight books.
Re: (Score:2)
Or don't. The books are bad. Or at least the first third of the first book it bad enough to make it not worth wading through any further. The series is much better.
If only the books were canceled... (Score:1)
After only three of them. Robert Jordan sucks, and the show sucks too. Hence the poor ratings despite all the stupid money poured in.
Re:If only the books were canceled... (Score:4, Funny)
You didn't enjoy hearing a dozen times per book about how that one female character pulled her braid when she got angry!?
"Uh oh, she's angry again for the hundredth time. Will she... oh... oh my God she's doing it! She's pulling her braid again! This is great literature!"
Re: (Score:2)
I honestly didn't make it that far, to a single braid pull. I got a few pages in and said, "WTF? People read this shit?" Then I put it down and never tried again.
Re: (Score:2)
Jordan was terrible at writing female characters.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree with your sentence but there appear to be a couple of superfluous words tacked on the end.
Yes I'm being bitchy! Some people clearly enjoyed his writing, so terrible is relative but I did not. It's basically a LoTR ripoff as was the fashion of the day but with sludgy pacing, laboured descriptions, perversely chosen names, and heavy handed dialogue.
Re: (Score:2)
I got about four chapters into the first book and gave up. Even the pulp put out by Weisman and Hickman was more interesting. There were a lot of Tolkien knockoffs back in the day, some better, some worse, and Robert Jordan was on the worse side. I struggled through the first season of the show, but it was pretty dire as well.
Now canceling The Expanse, that was sad.
Re: (Score:2)
As I just posted above, I only got a few pages into WOT until I gave up. I definitely wanted to love it, but there was nothing to love.
Weiss and Hickman totally ripped off Tolkein, but they also wrote more entertainingly that he did, at least for their first trilogy. It went downhill after that.
There has, of course, been a lot of great high fantasy ever since. Earthsea is especially great. Like all firsts, Tolkein started things, but the young ones soon outdid him.
I do not feel that Harry Potter is espe
Re: (Score:2)
I do not feel that Harry Potter is especially great, though. It just felt childish to me, which probably explains why it's so popular.
I mean it was or at least started out literally as a kid's book. I was never a fan.
Earthsea is great, no comments.
And nothing of value was lost (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Tell me you haven't read the source material without telling me you haven't read the source material LMAO.
The series wasn't enough like the book to be honest - should have gone harder.
Weird (Score:2)
Never heard of it, IMDB has a couple of 9/10 for season 3. I'd bet they're just creating hype and demand rather than being honest.