Prime Video has officially slammed the door shut on The Wheel of Time — and fans are reacting like the Dark One himself just won.
The cancellation news hit on Friday, and the online response over the weekend has reflected a sense of incredulity from the show’s fanbase. “We finally made a good season from a fantasy book adaptation? This is unacceptable! Cancel it immediately!” one dismayed fan quipped on Threads. Another called it “literally the dumbest decision ever made,” while others pointed out that Season 3 had finally hit its stride, delivering strong character development, big-budget battles, and momentum that felt like it was building toward something epic.
“It doesn’t make sense,” another fan lamented. “I hope that the project can be rescued, it deserves it.”
And that’s the thing — The Wheel of Time did actually seem like it was working. Not just creatively, but commercially (seem being the key word).
Here’s a look back. Season 1 debuted in 2021 and pretty much exploded right out of the gate. It racked up more than 1.16 billion viewing minutes in its first week and climbed to nearly 5 billion by the end of its eight-week run. That translated to more than 10 million US viewers, placing the show in the “this could be Prime Video’s Game of Thrones” category. The series was rich in lore, sprawling in scale, and based on a beloved book series with a built-in audience.
Season 2, however, premiered in 2023 and didn’t quite keep the momentum going. Viewership dropped by more than 50%, and although it still compared favorably to some of Prime Video’s other mid-tier originals, it couldn’t match the massive numbers being pulled in by shows like Fallout or even the wildly expensive The Rings of Power (which, yes, also lost half its audience but somehow still got renewed for Season 3).
By the time Season 3 of Wheel of Time rolled out in spring 2025, things had stabilized somewhat. The show landed in the Nielsen Top 10 streaming originals chart and maintained strong engagement online — ranking as the 17th most popular show globally at one point. It also hit #1 on Prime Video in 23 countries. Definitely not a bad result.
The show also has decent Rotten Tomatoes scores: An average 88% critics’ score and an average 75% audience score for all three seasons (for the most recent season, Season 3, those scores had climbed to 97% and 83%, respectively). And yet, here we are.
Prime Video’s decision to cancel The Wheel of Time after three seasons really seems to say more about its shifting priorities than the show itself. With the success of Fallout proving it can do genre shows right, the streamer is now going all-in on two more blockbuster adaptations: God of War and Mass Effect, shows that come with big budgets, big IP, and big expectations. Meanwhile, The Rings of Power continues to limp along with its billion-dollar price tag and increasingly ambivalent fanbase.
That’s what stings the most for Wheel of Time fans. The show wasn’t a flop, wasn’t broken, and had found a groove — but Prime Video axed it anyway. One fan on Threads summed it all up perfectly: “That’s a horrible decision… (the show) has a built-in audience and would be a good pickup by another streamer.” Here’s hoping that’s not just wishful thinking. Because while the wheel may turn, this feels like a break in the pattern no one wanted.
