Carnival Row on Prime Video: Why the Fantasy Series Ended After Two Seasons

Pandemic changed the plan

Erik Oleson, who became showrunner after creator Travis Beacham left, told Screen Rant that he, Prime Video and production company Legendary agreed to end the series as delays continued. He said cast and crew members were under contract and might otherwise have been unable to take other jobs.

Oleson described releasing them from their contracts as the right moral choice, allowing them to work and support their families. The final season premiered in February 2023, and its finale aired the following month.

Writers reshaped the ending

Because the decision came before Season 2 premiered, Oleson and the writers could revise storylines and bring them to a close without ruling out future seasons. Oleson said they undertook extensive rewrites on some early episodes, including material they had already filmed.

Oleson said Amazon gave him a couple of extra episodes after he raised concerns about ending the story satisfactorily in eight. One plotline involved a virus spreading through Carnival Row and killing fae, as Bloom recalled in a separate Screen Rant interview.

Season two drew mixed reviews

Despite those efforts, Season 2 was described as disjointed. Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus said the season was more uneven than its predecessor and that its many subplots led to a storytelling dead end. The season received a 41% critic score on the site, while its audience popcornmeter score was 70%.