Carnival Row Season 2 – When Will The Amazon Series Return?
Amazon's Carnival Row Season 2 starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne will premiere in 2023, but there are no plans for a third season.
The good news for fans of Amazon’s Carnival Row is that Season 2 is finally on its way. The bad news for Carnival Row fans is, unfortunately, Season 2 will be the final season. By the time the second season drops, it will be almost 4 years since the Season 1 premiere, so let’s see where we are at with Season 2 of Carnival Row.
SEASON 2 OF CARNIVAL ROW WILL PREMIERE IN 2023
Even though Amazon wasted a lot of time (years, in fact) in bringing fans a second helping of Carnival Row, they certainly didn’t waste time killing two birds with one stone. Their exuberance turned to over-exuberance when they announced that yes, a second season of the Orlando Bloom–Cara Delevingne-led series is on the way and that it will premiere on the Amazon streaming service on February 17, 2023. Then they added the buzz kill – it would also be the final season.
SEASON 2 WILL BE THE LAST FOR CARNIVAL ROW
When Amazon went on to first announce the premiere date and then the cancellation of Carnival Row, they were not forthcoming as to why they decided to pull the plug on the series. There were a lot of bumps in the road along the way, most notably the COVID pandemic, which was the cause for derailing a number of television series and feature films. Perhaps this is the reason Carnival Row is on its last leg.
Maybe Amazon isn’t too confident, with almost four years in between seasons, that they will be able to entice fans back to watch the show. Not only did COVD play a huge part in the delay of the second season, but co-lead Bloom was in no hurry to return to the set, as he was dealing with the birth of his and Katy Perry’s daughter. The cost of the show and the actors’ contracts could also have come into play when looking at bringing the series back.
ORLANDO BLOOM AND CARA DELEVINGNE WILL BE BACK
With four years in between seasons, some actors had no choice but to move on, which makes it surprising that after all this time, Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne were available for Season 2. Bloom returns as Rycroft Philostrate and Delevingne as Vignette Stonemoss. Amazon made sure fans knew this when they released a very short teaser for season 2.
In it, fans can see Delevigne and Bloom sharing a passionate kiss while Delevingne’s Stonemoss has Bloom’s Philostrate protected inside her fairy wings. It is a very telling moment. Then this happens:
No other names or faces can be seen here, so we will be only guessing who else will be returning for the final 10 episodes. Chances are you will for certain see Jamie Harris returning as Sergeant Dombey. You will also probably see Simon McBurney as Runyan Millworthy, Tamzin Merchant as Imogen Spurnrose, Andrew Gower as Ezra Spurnrose, and Arty Froushan as Jonah Breakspear.
THERE ARE NO PLANS FOR A SEASON 3
We have seen stranger things happen and with the first season of Carnival Row, there was plenty strange to see. But as it pertains to a possible third season of the series, don’t head to Vegas to lay down some of your hard-earned cash. That’s not saying it can’t happen, there have been plenty of instances where shows have been saved – hello Lucifer and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, to name a couple of recent shows – but don’t expect it to happen.
Then again, if the numbers show that there is an increased interest in the series, who knows what Amazon would do. Critically, the first season was met with tepid reviews sitting at 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. Fans seemed to like the first season much more as they gave Carnival Row an overall 87% favorable rating, and we all know how loud some fan bases can be.
Would it work? Should it work? With all the behind-the-scenes changes from Season 1 to Season 2, it’ll be interesting to see what direction season 2 goes.
Marc Guggenheim, who played a big part in the Arrowverse, was the showrunner for the first season of Carnival Row but has since departed. In his place is Erik Oleson, the gentleman who was in charge of Netflix’s Daredevil. Season 2 appears to be in good hands.
Also leaving the series for Season 2 is Carnival Row’s co-creator, Travis Beacham, whose original feature script is what the Carnival Row series is based on. Although Guggenheim has left the series as its showrunner, he will still be on board consulting on the series as it moves into its second and final season. Guggenheim did talk about how Season 1 wrapped up and what that means moving into Season 2.
“It’s probably one of the biggest seismic changes to the show itself that happens at the end of the first season,” Guggenheim said via Digital Spy. “And it’s something that we’re really going to be dealing with and dramatizing in season two. And the trick for Philo is, it’s not, unfortunately, as simple as him embracing the fact that he’s fae. To the fae, he’s not really fae. He’s a half-blood. So he basically is a man without a country.”
He then added, “Not to mention the fact that, because of this decision, he has relinquished his badge. So this cloak of authority that he used to have is no longer there. So that’s another thing that he’ll be wrestling with in season two.” Of course, even with Guggenheim’s departure as showrunner, there is no doubt he is still trying to get Orlando Bloom’s significant other, Katy Perry, to cameo.
Four years is a long time between seasons. How many of you out there are looking forward to a second, almost for certain, and final season? Would you like to see the series wrapped up neatly with a bow on top, or is there more story to tell? Let us know.
