UK Series ‘Riches’ Canceled By Prime Video After One Season; “I Still Had Many More Stories To Tell,” Creator Says

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read
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Prime Video is not proceeding with a second season of drama series Riches. Series creator/executive producer Abby Ajayi on Friday shared the news of the show’s end on Instagram.

“This time last year we launched,” she wrote, referring to the Riches Dec. 2, 2022 premiere on Prime Video. “Much love to this incredible ensemble of actors and our fabulous crew. Thank you to everyone who supported. So proud we got to make this show.”

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Ajayi went on to tease the second season she had prepped, as evident by the Reaches 2 notebook in one of the photo accompanying the post.

“I still had many more stories to tell… And, it was gonna be 🔥 🔥 🔥”

Riches was an co-production, with Amazon Studios in 2021 boarding the ITV series, picking up the rights in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Nordics and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to sources, the streamer had informed the producers as well as distributor Banijay Rights, awhile ago that it would not be picking up a second season. ITV has not revealed the status of the show in the U.K., and there had been chatter that it could be shopped to other U.S. buyers, but Ajayi’s post mades it sound like Riches is over.

The cast of the series includes Deborah Ayorinde, Hugh Quarshie, Sarah Niles, Brendan Coyle, Hermione Norris, along with Adeyinka Akinrinade, Ola Orebiyi, C.J. Beckford, Nneka Okoye and Emmanuel Imani.

Riches, which has drawn parallels to HBO’s Succession, starts with self-made millionaire Stephen Richards (Quarshie) suffering a stroke. His family’s secrets and lies rise to the surface and the future of his multi-million pound cosmetics business is placed in peril as the children from his two marriages’ lives begin to collide.

At the time of the pickup by Prime Video, Ajayi called the drama a “love letter to Black London,” adding that it has been “thrilling to create the Richards family and celebrate their opulence, ambition and immigrant grit.”

Riches comes from Been So Long producer Greenacre Films in association with ITV Studios’ Monumental Films. Nadine Marsh-Edwards, Amanda Jenks, Alison Owen and Alison Carpenter executive produced. Ajayi also directed alongside Darcia Martin and Sebastian Thiel.

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A post shared by Abby Ajayi (@abbyajayi)

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