Highlights
- Carnival Row was an ambitious original fantasy series that combined various genres and received overwhelming praise from fans.
- Season 2 faced delays due to the Pandemic but managed to expand on the fantasy and political thriller aspects of the show.
- The show’s finale wrapped up the main storyline but left fans disappointed, as they felt the pacing was rushed and wanted more from the series.
Carnival Row was an ambitious and exciting project for fans, especially fans of the fantasy genre. Unlike Game of Thrones, Carnival Row didn’t have novels to pull material from. It was a wholly original idea based on a screenplay by Travis Beacham titled “A Killing On Carnival Row.” The series pulls aspects of fantasy, steampunk, neo-noir, and crime dramas and throws it all into a grimdark setting. Fans greeted the first season with overwhelming praise, earning itself a nomination for Best Genre Series at the 2020 Satellite Awards.
The second season took longer than expected to premiere, with the cast and crew returning home amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic that shut down production everywhere. Carnival Row season two picks up right where season one left off, throwing the audience into the thick of it. It even managed to expand on the fantasy and political thriller aspects of the series. However, season two had a lot of ground to cover before its eventual finale.
RELATED: The Urban Fantasy Subgenre, Explained
What is Carnival Row About?
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Created By |
Travis Beacham & René Echevarria |
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Cast |
Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne, and Simon McBurney |
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Number of seasons |
2 |
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Number of episodes |
18 |
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Premiere date |
August 30, 2019 |
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Streaming service |
Prime Video |
Carnival Row was an urban fantasy television series that followed the politics and struggles of humans, fae, and fauns, along with a mysterious alliance of forces known as “The Pact.” Once upon a time, the humans from the Republic of Burgue invaded the peaceful land of Tirnanoc, home to the Fae, for access to their natural resources. The Brugue ended up defending the Fae from the Pact and lost, forcing the Burgue Republic to retreat and the Fae to flee their homeland. This created a severe refugee crisis in the heart of the Republic. Staying in Tirnanoc meant extermination at the hands of the Pact.
The series focuses on several characters from each faction. The primary human the show follows is Rycroft “Philo” Philostrate (Orlando Bloom), a veteran of the war in Tirnanoc, where he met his ex-lover. By the beginning of Carnival Row’s first season, Philo is a detective and lead investigator in the Carnival Row murders. He keeps many secrets close to his chest, one being that he is half-fae, which, along with showing sympathy toward the refugees, keeps him at arm’s length with his colleagues. Philo’s ex, Vignette Stonemoss (Cara Delevingne), also a war veteran, is a fae living in Carnival Row doing what she can to help the refugees. She eventually falls in with a group known as the Black Raven, whose principles align with Vignette’s.
Carnival Row is a murder mystery layered on top of a political thriller as the fae and faun fight for equal rights with the humans they live among. Fae and humans drop like flies in both seasons and Philo rushes to uncover the truth. The Republic’s government is torn in two throughout the series with whether or not they’re responsible for sheltering the Fae. One party argues that they are responsible since they started the war that ravaged Tirnanoc. Meanwhile, the other party claims they owe nothing to the refugees and that the refugees are responsible for themselves.
The second season finds Philo and Vignette working against each other, with Philo doing his best to mend relations between humans and the fae, whereas Vignette takes charge of the Black Raven and wages war.
How Does Carnival Row Season 2 End?
Season two expanded the world in which Carnival Row takes place, adding new fantastical species to the mix. The first season primarily dealt with the fae and faun, while the show’s sophomore season introduced werewolves, elves, and some goblin-like entities. Some things never change, though, as Philo makes it his mission to find out who or what is killing fae and humans alike throughout the season. Meanwhile, Vignette leads the Black Raven terrorist organization to the brink of war.
The fae Tourmaline becomes a major focus of this season with her ability to see the future and stop transformations. She eventually learns that the creature killing without prejudice is a Sparas, a shape-shifting creature that disembowels its victims and strikes terror into the city, and it’s disguised as Mikulas Vir. Tourmaline, at one point, connects with the Sparas and stops it from killing Philo. However, that only upsets it, and he hunts her down. Darius, a werewolf of sorts, shows up at the last minute to protect Tourmaline.
Vignette and Philo also show up and fight the Sparas, each willing to sacrifice themselves to put a stop to its terror. However, Philo ends up severely risking himself by allowing the monster to consume him, but this allows Philo to kill it from the inside by shooting it. Unfortunately, Darius doesn’t survive the encounter and the other three watch over him as he breathes his last breath.
Amid the chaos of multiple factions fighting, Philo drags the corpse of the Sparas into the town’s center to end it all. Unhappy with the turning tide, Constable Thatch shoots him in the back, but Thatch is in turn, shot in the head by Sergeant Dombey. However, it takes more than a bullet to the back to kill Rycroft Philostrate. He recovers from the wound as the Burgue Parliament offers him the position of Chancellor. He respectfully declines, refusing to be the excuse people need not to change.
The one happy ending the series ends on is Vignette and Tourmaline returning to their homeland of Tirnanoc to share a kiss in a marriage ceremony.
Will There be a Carnival Row Season 3?
The showrunners always intended for Carnival Row to run for four seasons. Amazon even renewed it for its second season before the first season aired, showing a lot of faith in the property. In 2022, before its second season premiered, the studio announced it would be the show’s final season. Orlando Bloom told RadioTimes in an interview, “I think COVID really put the brakes on everything.” He went on to admit:
It was jarring and so the thinking was, there was a lot of love for the show in Season 1 — and certainly Amazon was super supportive — but really, we had so much footage that we were able to take this world and bring it to a conclusion in a really great way.
Fans were rightfully disappointed by the show’s finale, claiming the pacing felt rushed. There’s obviously more story to be told. While disappointment might be the main emotion felt by fans, Bloom chose to look on the brighter side of things, saying:
And I love the idea of leaving people wanting more, rather than trying to wring the marrow out of everything.
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