Orlando Bloom Confirms He Won’t Return To His Greatest Role Ever
Orlando Bloom is leaving Carnival Row after the second season, believing that it's a perfect ending and will leave fans wanting more.
Though he’s starred in multiple blockbuster franchises, stealing scenes as Legolas in the Lord of the Rings and one of the main stars of Pirates of the Caribbean, it took a while for Orlando Bloom to find his best, solo starring role. In 2019, the veteran actor finally found the character for him in Carnival Row as Philo, a man investigating the murder of fae beings in the 19th century. ScreenRant reports that following the conclusion of Season 2, Bloom will not be returning to the Amazon original for a third season.
The neo-noir fantasy series takes place in an alternate world’s Victorian era with mythological beings living as an oppressed minority among humanity. Driven from their homeland by war, the fae are looked down upon, with Orlando Bloom’s Philo one of the few constables that sympathizes with their plight. After being assigned to investigate fae murders, Philo stumbles upon a conspiracy that reaches the very heart of his city and threatens to change Carnival Row‘s society forever.
Alongside Orlando Bloom, the rest of the extensive cast includes Cara Delevingne, Simon McBurney, David Gyasi, Tamzin Merchant, Andrew Gower, Karla Crome, Caroline Ford, Indira Varma, and Jared Harris. Befitting the setting and focus of the narrative, most of the regular cast plays fae characters with extensive special effects transforming them into faun (half-human, half-goat), faeries, and various versions of beast men. While the world of Carnival Row is visually spectacular and the first season was praised for its take on the classic detective story, it’s also meant to have an end.
Orlando Bloom discussed that sense of ending Carnival Row in his remarks upon leaving the show, saying “You know what I love about this? We get to leave people wanting more. That’s how I feel. Like I said, there’s no source material, so where would this end up? Who knows? But there wasn’t a vision for it past what we were filming. I don’t know that we could have done it any more justice.”
Orlando Bloom thinks that the ending of Carnival Row‘s second season serves as a great finish to the series, which is an admittedly refreshing opinion to hear in an era with countless prequels and spin-offs. Even Bloom’s major feature film roles, in both Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, brought the actor back multiple times.
“Leave them wanting more” applies mostly to the Jerry Bruckheimer Pirates franchise, which is again, openly talking about bringing back Orlando Bloom as Will Tanner. Titan star Brenton Thwaites played his son in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, questing to save his dad from the cursed existence as the Captain of the Flying Dutchman. A post-credit scene teased continuing Will’s adventure, proving that not every creator believes in Bloom’s philosophy about showmanship.
It’s better for Carnival Row to be remembered alongside other hit short-lived genre shows, like Firefly and Alphas, instead of going on past the expiration date as did the similar SyFy show Sanctuary. Orlando Bloom may have finally broken out from being the best part of an ensemble, but even he knows how to leave before the tide turns.
Those interested can decide if Orlando Bloom is right by catching up on all of Carnival Row Season 1 before the second season starts airing later this week.
