Hey casting directors, you might want to avoid Joseph Fiennes for the foreseeable future. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the guy. Hell, I even think he's a pretty good actor, not older brother Ralph good but certainly TV good. But there is no denying that he's series Kryptonite right now. After his sci-fi serial, Flash Forward, bit the dust, Fiennes quickly jumped on Starz's Camelot, which now shares a similar fate.
Okay, I know it's clearly not Fiennes fault that the Arthurian show starring him, Eva Green, and Jamie Campbell Bower didn't get renewed for a second season. I can't help but think of HBO's Rome, which, despite being an exceptional show, couldn't survive under the weight of its own production costs. I'm not saying that Camelot was anywhere near the caliber of Rome, but any period drama on television runs the risks of huge budgets, and when you're only pulling in a million and a half viewers for your finale, although not terrible, it's hard to stay afloat.
Deadline notes in their report that the cancellation -- or lack or renewal (is that like the difference between being fired and laid off?) -- was "due to significant production challenges" but also may have also resulted from scheduling conflicts for the series regulars. Where is your commitment to the show, actors? As Gob Bluth would say, come on! So, sorry to all those fans of the fables of the knights of the round table, your time with Camelot is over.
You can catch Green in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows next year, Campbell Bower in Twilight: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2 (as well as the Shakespearean thriller, Anonymous) and Fiennes in, well, Fiennes doesn't have anything lined up at the moment. Maybe casting directors are listening.
