If you’ve been a geek in the internet in recent weeks, you’ll know all about Prime Video’s controversial decision to cancel its brilliant fantasy series The Wheel of Time, way before its time. Now, the streamer has decided to throw several millions in another fantasy endeavour. Enter Powerless.
Prime Video’s decision to pull the plug on The Wheel of Time after its third season has caused outrage in the fantasy space. Throughout its run, the show gained a devoted fanbase, stretching far beyond fans of the original books by Robert Jordan (and later Brandon Sanderson). The series matured into one of the finest fantasy shows out there, and perhaps the most capable to of all the shows vying to fill the immense void left by Game of Thrones. Sure, it got buried a little, thanks to Prime Video’s other show The Rings of Power, which was helped out by being an already enormous IP.
The Wheel of Time hadn’t come close to adapting the books; there’s myriad key moments, iconic scenes and battles that fans were ardently waiting to see get adapted for the screen. And now, the show has ended on a sour note. Prime Video won’t be forgiven for this decision.
So soon after cancelling The Wheel of Time, the streamer has gone and picked up another fantasy series. Reported by Deadline, Lauren Roberts’ Powerless series is getting the live-action treatment. The New York Times best-selling novel is being brought to the small screen from Daphne Ferraro (Maxton Hall). The debut season will cover the entirety of the first novel.
Per Deadline, the synopsis reads:
Powerless is set in the kingdom of Ilya where the Elites reign supreme with their breathtaking powers—and hunt those without. Paedyn Gray, a powerless Ordinary, has spent years scraping by as a thief in the slums, hiding in plain sight after the King had her father executed. But when she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, the cruel King’s second son and designated Ordinary hunter, she is thrust into the kingdom’s prestigious Purging Trials — a savage competition promising glory, riches, and a spotlight she has fought her whole life to avoid.
The fascinating yet lethal Prince is dead-set on winning the trials Paedyn can barely hope to survive – but soon the two realize that the biggest challenge they will have to face might just be withstanding the irresistible pull between them, a connection as profound as it is unthinkable…
I’ve read Powerless, and it’s pretty good — although I still haven’t had the itch to pick up the subsequent novels Powerful and Reckless. The novel, which found initial success after hitting the TikTok algorithm, will attract a whole new demographic as well as traditional fantasy readers. Alongside Fourth Wing (which is also getting a TV series), it was one of the standout books in the ‘romantasy’ genre, which has been growing immensely in popularity recently.
I’ve remain bitter that Prime Video never renewed The Wheel of Time. I just hope Powerless doesn’t suffer the same fate.
