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Apple TV+ won’t reset the clock on Time Bandits.

The tech giant’s streaming service has canceled the series, an adaptation of a 1981 feature film by Terry Gilliam, after a single season. The news comes less than four weeks after Time Bandits completed its 10-episode first season on Aug. 21.

As is the case with most streaming series, viewing figures for Time Bandits aren’t publicly available. The show didn’t break into Nielsen’s top 10 original streaming series in the first four weeks of its run (Apple TV+ released two episodes per week). Critics were largely positive on the show; The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg wrote that particularly in the second half of the season, Time Bandits is “actively funny and clever and just a little bit emotional.”

Like the film, the series follows a young history buff (Kal-El Tuck) who’s recruited to join a band of...

“Time Bandits” has been canceled by Apple TV+ after one season, Variety has confirmed.

The fantasy series, starring Lisa Kudrow, follows a group of thieves and their newest recruit — an 11-year-old boy named Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) — hopping across time and space to plunder riches. Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris and Taika Waititi created the series adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 cult classic, with Clement and Morris serving as co-showrunners.

Along with Kudrow and Tuck, the cast includes Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Charlyne Yi, Rune Temte, Rachel House, Kiera Thompson, James Dryden, Felicity Ward, Francesca Mills and Imaan Hadchiti.

Clement, Morris and Waititi wrote and directed select episodes of “Time Bandits” Season 1; they also executive produced alongside Garrett Basch, Jane Stanton for Handmade Films and Tim Coddington. The now-defunct Paramount TV Studios produced with Anonymous Content’s AC Studios and MRC Television.

In July, Morris spoke to Variety about introducing “Time Bandits” to a new audience.

Time Bandits‘ latest adventure has come to an end. Apple TV+ has opted not to renew the series adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s cult classic film for a second season. The news comes almost a month after the 10-episode first season of the fantasy series starring Lisa Kudrow ended its run, released in batches of two episodes weekly.

The development is not entirely surprising. Despite the nostalgia factor and mostly favorable reviews (78% on Rotten Tomatoes), Time Bandits, created by Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris and Taika Waititi, did not attract large enough audience and was not able to crack Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming rankings.

After the initial round of the streaming wars where gaining market share was the sole objective, streamers have been applying a more disciplined approach in their shift to profitability,...

Back in 1981, director Terry Gilliam and his Monty Python cohort Michael Palin brought the world the cult classic fantasy adventure film Time Bandits – and now, Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has teamed with his frequent collaborators Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris to create an Apple TV+ series version of Time Bandits. The first two episodes of the ten-episode first season will premiere on Wednesday, July 24th… and while doing the press rounds for the show, Clement revealed that season 2 is already being written!

Produced for Apple TV+ by Paramount Television Studios, Anonymous Content’s AC Studios, and MRC, Time Bandits is an unpredictable journey through time and space with a ragtag group of thieves and their newest recruit: an 11-year-old history buff named Kevin. Together, they set out on a thrilling quest to save the boy’s parents — and the world. The eccentric crew of...