Remember the Prime Video show Carnival Row? The series starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne where there were fantastical creatures like fairies living among humans and treated as a second class, at best? It’s okay if you don’t remember—the show’s first season premiered three years ago in August 2019—but if you recall and liked the series, I have good news and bad news for you.
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First, the good news—the show is coming back for a second season! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carnival Row will return for a ten-episode second season on February 17, 2023, with episodes dropping weekly.
Now here’s the bad news: Carnival Row is definitely not coming back for a third season. According to THR, the show was “creatively overhauled” after season one. The series went through three showrunners, with co-creator Rene Echevarria leaving after the first season and Marc Guggenheim (Arrow) leaving during season two with Erik Oleson (Daredevil, The Man in the High Castle) ultimately taking over as the third and final showrunner. Travis Beacham—show co-creator and co-showrunner, and the original writer of the initial feature script before it got turned into a series, also left at some point after the end of season one.
All this doesn’t bode well for the second season, a season that got greenlit way back before the first season even debuted. It’s clear that Amazon doubled down on the show, and in this instance, it appears that this bet didn’t pan out for them.
We’ve also got this teaser for the second season, which tells us nothing but is very dramatic:
Falling! And kissing! If you’re looking for more details about what season two covers, here’s the synopsis:
In a fantasy world where humans and creatures clash, Season Two of Carnival Row picks up with former inspector Rycroft Philostrate a.k.a. Philo (Bloom) investigating a series of gruesome murders stoking social tension. Vignette Stonemoss (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. With humans and fae folk divided and freedom on the line, each hero will face impossible dilemmas and soul-defining tests tests in the epic conclusion of Carnival Row.
The first episode in over three years of Carnival Row premieres on Prime Video on Friday, February 17, 2023.
