Amazon $1B Fantasy Fail: 'The Wheel of Time' Cancelation Is Very Bad News for 'The Rings of Power'

In recent years, Amazon Prime Video has invested heavily in fantasy content, pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into adaptations of cult classics such as The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

However, both projects faced a wave of criticism and disappointment from viewers. The recent cancellation of The Wheel of Time after its third season only confirmed the studio's systemic problems with this genre.

Amazon And Other Studios Don't Understand Fantasy Genre

The main problem with Amazon (and most other studios) is their fundamental misunderstanding of fantasy as a genre.

The creators of The Wheel of Time used commercial logic when adapting the cult work, relying on spectacle and simplifying the plot. This led to a loss of the original books' depth and atmosphere.

Many fans believe this approach is a significant issue with fantasy projects. Redditor Loghaire wrote:

“Rings of Power, Netflix' Witcher, Shadow and Bone, WoT [...] show that the general rule is, that production studios do a really vague adaptation for something in a pretty generic way and slap some fantasy marketing decisions on top and call it a day.”

The cancellation of The Wheel of Time after Season 3 was doubly sad because the show had begun to shed its generic fantasy tropes and develop its own voice starting with Season 2. Unfortunately, it was too late.

Despite Big Budgets, Both Shows Received Mediocre Execution

Both of Amazon's fantasy projects received criticism, but The Rings of Power suffered the most. Yes, the creators of the show are limited by their rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, but the writers made radical changes to key characters that most fans did not like.

Despite record budgets, the quality of production did not make up for these shortcomings. The Rings of Power, the most expensive series in history which cost around $1 billion for two seasons, featured unnaturally clean costumes and plastic armor.

The special effects in The Wheel of Time clearly fell short of the standards set by HBO in Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon.

Amazon Hires Inexperienced Authors to Make Large-Scale Projects

Unlike HBO, which entrusts its fantasy projects to experienced writers and producers with a deep understanding of the genre, Amazon has given its flagship projects to teams with little experience working with not only large-scale, but any fantasy works.

One of the writers of The Rings of Power, Stephany Folsom, is known for two TV projects in addition to the Amazon show: Star Wars Resistance and Paper Girls. What's more, Paper Girls and The Rings of Power both came out in 2022 – the creators hired a writer with only one TV writing credit.

Another TRoP writer, Patrick McKay, has no TV credits at all – his previous works include Jungle Cruise and Godzilla vs. Kong.

Reddit user Dapper_Advisor4145 commented:

“Amazon and the writers just really screwed this thing up so badly from the start. [...] The writing and plot decisions were just not up to snuff for anything approaching a prestige type of show. Yes, they were certainly dealt a bad hand with covid and the writer's strike. But a lot of the damage was self-inflicted by the creatives.”

Fans Want Unique, Bright And Well-Developed Fantasy Worlds on Screen

In an attempt to replicate the success of Game of Thrones, Amazon has overlooked a key aspect: modern viewers value fantasy for more than just impressive battles and special effects, they also appreciate carefully developed characters, logical plotlines, and respect for the source material.

If The Rings of Power continue to be subjected to this approach, we will never see the end of this story, too.

In pursuit of mass appeal, Amazon has forgotten that it was the depth and detail of Tolkien's and Jordan's works that made them classic.