Just this week, Amazon‘s hit series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel came to an end after five seasons. While fans were obviously sad to say goodbye to the show, it would appear that they weren’t the only disappointed ones.
Created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, the series debuted in 2017 and quickly became a hit for the platform, scoring numerous awards. Because of this, it was a real surprise for the fans when, months ago, it was confirmed that the fifth installment of the show would be the last.
In an interview on WTF with Marc Maron on Thursday (May 25), the show’s creator-writer-producer-director shared her thoughts on why Maisel had to end, blaming the financial priorities of the streaming platform.
“It wasn’t me. But things come to an end,” said Sherman-Palladino. “I understand. But you know, there’s orcs to pay for. There’s a lot of orcs running around. They gotta pay the orcs.”
She mentioned how Maisel also became an expensive show towards the end. “All those bells and whistles. Doing period shows are very expensive,” she added. “It’s not just—it’s not just the cars and the dresses and the sets. It’s all the work afterwards, taking out all the modern stuff. The special effects are special. You wouldn’t think we were special effects when we got no dragons.”
While she didn’t want to see the show end, she also felt it was the right time. “We looked at the fifth season and like–’okay, let’s land the plane.’ Because halfway through the season, people started saying: ‘well, I mean, what about a reboot?’ I’m like, ‘oh, my god, just let me land the plane.’ Let me make sure that if people liked the show, and if people watched the show, at the end, they feel like their journey was closed. That was very important to me.”
The Rings of Power has been deemed the most expensive series in television history, and Amazon Prime Video has invested heavily in its production.
Another show that Amazon recently decided to cancel in an effort to cut costs was A League of Their Own, which was renewed for one more final season. Paper Girls, Carnival Row and Hunters have also canceled despite their success.
