- The Wheel of Time fans have launched a campaign to ensure the show isn’t cancelled
- Amazon hasn’t confirmed if the high fantasy series will return for a fourth season
- The Prime Video TV Original’s latest season was the best-rated one yet
The Wheel of Time (TWoT) fans have rallied together to call on Amazon to renew the high fantasy show for more seasons.
With the Prime Video TV Original’s fate hanging in the balance, fans are urging Amazon MGM Studios and fellow production company Sony Pictures Television not to cancel it after three seasons.
With general audiences and critics alike (per Rotten Tomatoes, anyway) labeling it the show’s highest-rated entry so far – I even waxed lyrical about it in my review of The Wheel of Time season 3 – many assumed that a season 4 renewal was a case of when, not if.
However, that’s not been the case. At the time of publication, The Wheel of Time season 3 only ended 12 days ago, but viewers have grown increasingly concerned by Amazon and Sony’s radio silence on the matter. So, they’ve taken matters into their own hands.
The global fan campaign, dubbed ‘Renew WoT’, is a concerted and concentrated fan effort to prove how eager they are to see TWoT‘s story told in full.
Indeed, TWoT devotees are petitioning their fellow viewers, as well as Amazon and Sony, to ensure that the program returns for a fourth season and beyond.
In a bid to prove how much they care about one of the best Prime Video shows‘ future, organizers have set up a website – RenewWot.com – as a hub where worried audience members can throw their weight behind the campaign. There, fans can sign a petition asking the show’s production studios to greenlight more seasons, read testimonials from their fellow fanatics, and more.
That’s not all. TWoT fans are also being called on to send an email to Amazon and Sony executives via an Action Email webpage to politely show why they want to see the series continue. To date, almost 7,000 emails have been sent to those in the corridors of power.
Lastly, every Friday at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm BST, fans are being asked to take to social media, use the hashtag #RenewWoT, and state why they’d like to see more seasons of Amazon’s live-action adaptation of Robert Jordan’s book series namesake.
In a press release, the campaign’s organizers called the series “a rare example of a major fantasy adaptation with deep character arcs, inclusive casting, and intricate world-building. Consistently improving each season, fans believe its potential is far from finished”. The group also believes the campaign “stands out for its tone – focusing on appreciation, not outrage – and amplifying the voices of diverse fans across cultures and backgrounds.”
So, will it work or is this another fan petition set to fall on deaf ears? For what it’s worth, Josha Stradowski, who plays Rand, exclusively told me that the cast and crew were “confident” that The Wheel of Time season 4 would be greenlit eventually.
Per audience measurement specialists Nielsen, The Wheel of Time accrued 505 million minutes streamed for the week running March 24 to 30. However, that data only takes US audience figures into consideration and is spread across the series’ 21 episodes that were released up to and including March 30. Without more public data to pore over, then, it’s still difficult to determine how well the Rafe Judkins-created program has performed worldwide and if it’ll return at some point.
Still, fans aren’t giving up hope that TWoT will be back.
“We know renewals depend on a lot of factors and maybe it [season 4] just hasn’t been announced yet,” one unnamed organizer said. “By showing the studios how much we appreciate the show and want more, we are either validating a decision already made, or giving them a helpful nudge.”
Time will tell if all of this hard work has paid off or not. For now, I’ve reached out to Amazon for an official comment on the fan campaign and I’ll report back if I receive a response.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
