Why won't there be a Carnival Row season 3? Orlando Bloom ...

17 Feb 2023

Radio Times

The summer of 2019 might as well be a lifetime ago at this point, so even the most committed telly fans would be forgiven for having a hazy memory of Prime Video original series Carnival Row.

At the time of its debut, the show was arguably the most ambitious project on the streaming service, imagining a richly detailed fantasy world that starkly mirrored our own in many ways.

Orlando Bloom stars as Rycroft Philostrate, an inspector tasked with investigating brutal murders occurring across Victorian-esque city The Burgue, where the dominant human population is deeply prejudiced towards fairy and faun refugees.

At the time of release, then-showrunners Travis Beacham and Marc Guggenheim were vocal about their plan for at least four seasons of the high-budget drama (via Collider), but alas, that vision has been scrapped for now.

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This month, Carnival Row season 2 – now billed as the final chapter – arrives on Prime Video after a three-and-a-half-year wait, during which time Beacham and Guggenheim were replaced in the top job by Daredevil's Erik Oleson.

In an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com, Bloom acknowledged that "there were a lot of changes at the top of the food chain" during production, describing that process as "above my pay grade".

But the biggest factor that led to ending the show early, he said, was the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw filming on Carnival Row grind to a halt for more than a year.

"We were finishing what we thought was season 2 when the world went on pause, and we all went into hibernation," he began. "But whilst that was a really challenging time… everyone could work from home and look at the footage that we had, and really address what was there and what we could do more of – or improve upon.

Orlando Bloom stars in Carnival Row season 2. Amazon

"So in the time that we were shut down... they actually got a pretty interesting shape of what the show was."

Bloom continued: "I think COVID really put the brakes on everything. It was jarring and so the thinking was, there was a lot of love for the show in season 1 – and certainly Amazon was super supportive – but really, we had so much footage that we were able to take this world and bring it to a conclusion in a really great way.

"And I love the idea of leaving people wanting more, rather than trying to wring the marrow out of everything."

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The actor, known for past roles in the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises, made clear that he was very happy with the ending settled on by incoming showrunner Oleson, who inherited a lot of complex storylines to wrap up.

"[He] really executed the show in a way that I'm really proud of," added Bloom. "And I think that it'll stand the test of time. It's something that I'm really glad I got to do, and I'm sad to see it gone."