We have some good news and some bad news to share with fans of Carnival Row. Ahead of the return of the series on Prime Video in February, Amazon has released an official trailer for Carnival Row's second season. However, per Variety, it has also been announced that season 2 will be the final season of the show, as Prime Video has axed Carnival Row with no plans to make a third season. Season 2 will serve as the final season of the show, and you can get a peek at the new episodes by watching the trailer below.
Because Amazon hasn't released viewership numbers for Carnival Row, it's hard to say exactly how many people were watching, but it would seem that it wasn't quite enough to warrant ordering a third season. Carnival Row has also struggled with critics, sitting with a rotten score at 57% at Rotten Tomatoes, though its audience score is notably much higher at 87% fresh.
From Prime Video, an official description for the upcoming second season reads:
"(Season 2) picks up with former inspector Rycroft Philostrate a.k.a. Philo (Orlando Bloom) investigating a series of gruesome murders stoking social tension. Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne) and the Black Raven plot payback for the unjust oppression inflicted by The Burgue’s human leaders, Jonah Breakspear (Arty Froushan) and Sophie Longerbane (Caroline Ford). Tourmaline (Karla Crome) inherits supernatural powers that threaten her fate and the future of The Row. And, after escaping The Burgue and her vengeful brother Ezra (Andrew Gower), Imogen Spurnrose (Tamzin Merchant) and her partner Agreus Astrayon (David Gyasi) encounter a radical new society which upends their plans.”
Carnival Row Won't Get a Third Season
The two-season run probably seems disappointing for executive producer Travis Beacham, who's 2005 screenplay A Killing on Carnival Row was what eventually became the Prime Video series. It officially began pre-production in 2015 before getting a series order in 2017. The first season debuted in 2019 on Prime Video, but because of the pandemic, production on season 2 did not begin until 2021. It's a lot of hurdles that the series had to overcome to get to this point just to come to an end after two seasons.
Beacham created the series adaptation with Rene Echevarria. Carnival Row stars Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, Simon McBurney, Tamzin Merchant, David Gyasi, Andrew Gower, Karla Crome, Arty Froushan, Indira Varma, and Jared Harris.
Carnival Row will premiere its second and final season on Feb. 17 on Prime Video. Consisting of 10 episodes, new episodes will debut every week thereafter.