Behind the scenes shake-up as Carnival Row heads into season 2

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The Amazon series Carnival Row just made its debut this year, but the concept has been around for 14 years, ever since series co-creator Travis Beacham wrote a spec script called A KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROW in 2005. Beacham came up with the original idea and spent over a decade working to bring it to the screen as either a feature or a TV show, so it's sad to hear that he won't be involved with the series anymore as of the second season.

Beacham has reportedly left Carnival Row over "creative differences". It's an odd thing when a person who created a show has to drop out because his vision for it doesn't match what the people making the show want to do with his concept…

Carnival Row is also getting a new showrunner for season 2. Season 1 showrunner Marc Guggenheim is busy assembling a huge superhero event for the CW, so he has had to take a step back and will now be serving on Carnival Row as a consultant. Joining the series as executive producer and new showrunner is Erik Oleson, whose previous producing credits include Arrow, Daredevil, and The Man in the High Castle. He was showrunner on season 3 of Daredevil.

Guggenheim himself had been a replacement showrunner on Carnival Row; the first showrunner was Rene Echevarria, who developed Carnival Row into a series with Beacham. Guggenheim took over when reshoots were required for season 1.

Starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne, Carnival Row is set 

in a Victorian fantasy world of mythological immigrant creatures whose exotic homelands were invaded by the empires of man. Bloom plays human detective, Rycroft Philostrate, while Delevingne stars as a refugee faerie named Vignette Stonemoss. In Season 1, they rekindle a dangerous affair despite an increasingly intolerant society and Vignette harbors a secret that endangers Philo’s world during his most important case yet: a string of gruesome murders threatening the uneasy peace of the Row.

Beacham, Echevarria, and Guggenheim will all have executive producer credits on season 2, as will Bloom and Delevingne.

Amazon ordered a second season of Carnival Row before the first season even appeared on their streaming service. Production on the new season is now underway in Prague, but there might be a brief hiatus to give Oleson a chance to look over the existing scripts and outlines.

The making of Carnival Row is quite tumultuous, but the first season went over well with Amazon subscribers.