The HBO series The Time Traveler’s Wife sees Theo James and Rose Leslie take on roles that Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams made famous over a decade ago. In the series, the Divergent star plays Henry DeTamble who is genetically predisposed to travel through time. Meanwhile, the Game of Thrones alum plays Henry’s wife, Clare Abshire, who is dedicated to their marriage despite their ‘problem.’
Almost soon after the show was released, however, HBO announced that it won’t be renewing the show for a second season. The announcement has left fans wondering what went wrong and more importantly if the show can still be saved.
HBO’s The Time Traveler’s Wife Delves Into The Younger Henry DeTamble's World
While the series created by Steven Moffat has some similarities to the movie, it deviates from the 2003 novel that the story is based on a bit. “In the book, we hear about the wild guy in his youth. There were kind of glancing references to it, like, 'He f***** lots of people and he was an alcoholic and all these things,' but we never see it,” the actor explained. “I think that is the difference here. We get to see the d***-ish, arrogant, nihilistic twat, who hasn't evolved into the statesman or the thoughtful person that he becomes.”
At the same time, James became determined to show just how much time travel truly affects the character. Hence, he agreed to go completely naked in several scenes. “I always wanted to make it more painful, or not more painful, but I wanted his landing to be uncomfortable every time, both for him as the character and for the audience,” the actor explained.
“I really wanted to impress on the story that this is not great. This is not a fun, romantic affliction. This is a serious illness that he has, and when it throws him out of time, it’s painful for him. It’s depleting for him. It’s exhausting for him.”
As for Leslie, she feels that her character understandably goes through a wide range of emotions every time her husband disappears and comes back. “For me, trying to portray that, there’s a whole combination of relief, when Henry does time travel back into their home, and he survived, and he’s okay, but I wanted to also balance that with the realization that this happens on the regular,” the actress explained.
“As a result, there becomes not just a formality, but there’s a way that it is normalized for them, and I wanted to show that. I also wanted to recognize that, just as a decent person, she wouldn’t always want to show her relief, every time that he’s back, because that would just be highly unfair.”
After showing the toll that time travel can take on a relationship, the final episode puts the spotlight on the couple’s wedding day. And as expected, it doesn’t exactly go as planned. That said, they did manage to exchange their vows.
Why Did HBO Cancel The Time Traveler’s Wife So Quickly?
Early on, there was a lot of optimism regarding the show’s future. “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,” Moffat even revealed. “There is enough juice in the book for more than just one [season]. But at the same time, I would still call it a limited series because it can’t go on forever. It has to stop. We already know a fair bit about how it ends.”
The show’s main stars have also expressed a desire to continue for at least one more season. “Yeah, I certainly do want to continue,” Leslie admitted. “There’s obviously so much more ground to cover for them, and I hope we do get to come back.”
“It’s not a story that can be told over eight seasons because of the nature of the love story and because of its ending, which is great, in a way,” James added. “We would love to hang out and explore more of these characters, but it also will have its own natural ending, if we even get a chance to do it again, which we hope very much that we do.”
Unfortunately, it seems like things weren’t going well for the show from the beginning. For starters, critics were largely unimpressed by the series, although it fared a little better with viewers. That said, the show’s ratings have also been concerning from the start with estimates indicating that only 294,000 watched the series when it premiered. Even worse, its viewership dropped by 60% by the time the show released its second episode. Overall, the show only averaged 223,000, which is likely low by HBO’s standards.
Following the show’s cancellation, there is also no indication that it’s being shopped to other networks or streamers. At the same time, it’s unclear what Leslie and James would be working on next. As far as James is concerned though, it will likely not be a fourth Divergent movie.
HBO Max subscribers can catch The Time Traveler's Wife for free on the streamer. Basic HBO Max plans are available for $10/month or $100/year, and ad-free packages are available for $15/month or $150/year.
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