The Time Traveler's Wife Will Not Return for a Second Season

After just one season, The Time Traveler's Wife, starring Theo James and Rose Leslie, has been canceled at HBO. Get the latest details here.

By Daniel Trainor Jul 01, 2022 10:43 PMTags
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This bit of time traveling didn't last very long.

The Time Traveler's Wife, starring Theo James and Rose Leslie, has been canceled by HBO after one season, according to an HBO statement obtained by TVLine.

The series, based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name, followed Henry (James), a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and his wife Clare (Leslie), who is forced to adapt to life while he's gone. 

"Though HBO will not be moving forward with a second season of The Time Traveler's Wife, it was our privilege to partner with master storytellers Steven Moffat and [director] David Nutter," HBO said in their statement. "We are so grateful for their passion, hard work and care for adapting this beloved book. We also thank Theo and Rose, and the rest of our brilliant cast for their heartfelt performances, which completely captivated audiences."

When the show premiered in May, series creator Moffatt indicated that he had plans for more.

"I had a plan about how many seasons we'd do—not telling you!—and where each one would end and how far you'd take it," he told TVLine at the time. "There is enough juice in the book for more than just one [season]."

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The series was not without its criticisms. Upon its debut, some critics bashed the show for its depiction of grooming—the act of building emotional trust and connection with someone in order to later take advantage of the person, often in exploitative and abusive ways. In a review, the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Meyer critiqued its "lack of adventures and alleged love story that is more like a grooming story."

However, Moffatt argued that naysayers were simply missing the point.

"That's not what the story is in the book or the film or the TV show," he told TVLine. "He's married to her. He meets her as an adult, he falls in love with her, he gets married to her and then he's flung back in time, through no fault of his own, and is confronted with the childhood version of the woman he already loves."

HBO

Poor reviews and lackluster ratings certainly didn't help its cause, either. 

On review aggregate site Metacritic, the show had a 45 out of 100 rating, qualifying for "mixed or average reviews."

Its season finale, which dropped on May 15, was seen by just over 200K viewers, according to ShowBuzzDaily, down from nearly 300K for the season premiere.

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