‘Britannia’ Season 4 has been cancelled

We’ve got a disappointing update for Britannia fans…

It’s been revealed today that the British historical fantasy series won’t be returning for a fourth season.

Set in 43AD, Britannia launched in 2018 on Sky Atlantic in the UK, airing in the US on EPIX.

A second season followed in 2019, but the filming of Season 3 was heavily delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, eventually arriving in August 2021.

Over a year and a half later, the news that fans had feared has been confirmed.

Deadline reports that “despite building a loyal and engaged fan base,” Sky has “decided not to renew the epic fantasy historical drama for Season 4.”

According to reporter Wesley Groves, this means that, unless the series is saved by another broadcaster, Britannia will join the unfortunate legion of shows forever left on an unresolved cliffhanger.

The final moments of Season 3 saw Eleanor Worthington Cox’s character Cait in Rome having been betrayed by her mentor, who has apparently wed General Aulus.

Sky has apparently “declined to comment” on the show’s cancellation, but there may be a number of factors behind the decision.

Britannia is a very expensive production to make by British budget standards.

As happened with several of our favourite shows, the extended gap between seasons due to the pandemic very likely caused a loss of momentum for interest in Britannia, which it failed to regain upon its return in 2021.

There’s also the relaunch of EPIX to take into account.

The American broadcaster of Britannia was presumably also a key financial contributor to the show’s production, but their recent rebrand as MGM+ may have led to a refocusing on commissioning newer shows rather than renewing old EPIX titles.

Britannia boasted an impressive line-up of British stars, including David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Mackenzie Crook (The Office), Eleanor Worthington-Cox (The Enfield Haunting), and Zoë Wanamaker (Poirot), with Sophie Okonedo (Death on the Nile) joining in the third season.

Veran and Harka actor Mackenzie Crook certainly felt there was enough story for a fourth season, telling RadioTimes a while back: “Well, the Romans stayed [in Britain] for 400 hundred years so you’ve got a lot of material there and we’re only a couple of years into the invasion, so who knows?”

He added: “I think the Druids were wiped out in a big battle in maybe AD60, around 20 years after the invasion[…] so if I can keep hold of the [Druid] leadership I’ve got a couple of series left in me.”

We’ll let you know if hear anything about Britannia returning, but for now it looks like it’s three seasons and out for Aulus and co.

Britannia is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.