Two notable fantasy shows were cancelled by the streaming services over the last few years–Warrior Nun and The Wheel of Time–and both of those topped our recent poll of cancelled all-stars that people want to come back. I previously promised that the top winners would get a media blitz to help bring them some renewed attention, and now is the time to move forward with that.
Warrior Nun was cancelled by Netflix in 2022 after two seasons, and while there was an announcement that it would continue with three movies, those were not actually related to the show (drawing more from the comics), and they seem to have fizzled out. The Wheel of Time was cancelled by Amazon earlier this year after three seasons, despite strong viewership, and it appears to have been the victim of costs getting out of control at the streaming service.
Of the two shows, I believe that Warrior Nun has the best chance of getting revived. It was not a super-expensive production along the line of other Netflix originals like Wednesday or The Sandman, and I believe the license for the property may be available as the streamer usually only holds that for two years after the last season was released. This show will bring a built-in audience and would not be cost-prohibitive for another streaming service or network. It sure looks like it would be a good fit at AMC/AMC+ or perhaps Peacock would take a flyer on it to build up their slate of originals. Or maybe one of the larger streamers would pick it up as an affordable way to boost subscriptions. But if a third season is going to happen, that needs to be soon as its young cast continues to age.
The Wheel of Time might be more of a challenge because it was an expensive series to produce, costing around $15 million per episode. Amazon MGM Studios also has an ownership stake, and they may not be willing to let it go to another venue. The best bet is another attempt to get Amazon to change its mind and at least give the show a fourth season (or maybe a few movies). If the fans can draw enough attention to the show, perhaps Amazon execs will be convinced to give WOT another chance. Amazon apparently relinquished their rights to the series after the cancellation so those have reverted to Iwot Productions. So perhaps a strong show of support would convince Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, or one of the larger services to try and nab the series. They would be shelling out a lot of money, though, so they would have to see a huge surge on social media.
I will be getting the ball rolling by putting out a series of posts on Blue Sky, Facebook, Mastodon, and Xwitter. supporting a revival of the shows over the next week or so I will mostly focus on the latter since it remains as one of the biggest social media platforms (despite Elon Musk’s attempts to destroy it), but I will use our other accounts as well. For Warrior Nun, I will use the hashtag #SaveWarriorNun, and for The Wheel of Time I will use #SaveWOT. I will ask that you please forward these while also sending your own posts with those hashtags. And feel free to add other hashtags as you deem appropriate; we can pick up on those if they gain some momentum.
Along with that, fans should start staging watch parties for both shows. Warrior Nun is still on Netflix and The Wheel of Time remains on Prime Video, so fans should watch them as much as possible. Those views will be recorded with or without the Nielsen filters and could get the shows into the streaming charts. That along with the social media trending should certainly draw renewed attention to the shows.
Feel free to chime in with additional suggestions below, and as the campaigns pick up steam, we can adjust as necessary. We have seen other sci fi and fantasy shows saved in the past–even against all odds–so perhaps this effort could save one or both of these fan-favorites.
Keep up with the status of all the current sci fi and fantasy shows as well as news and updates on new and upcoming shows at CancelledSciFi.com.
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