The Time Traveler s Wife is a science fiction romantic drama television series based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger. The series was developed and written by Steven Moffat, who had previously taken inspiration from Niffenegger s novel for his work on the science fiction series Doctor Who. It was directed by David Nutter, stars Rose Leslie and Theo James, and premiered on HBO on May 15, 2022. The series received a generally negative reception, and was canceled after one season in July 2022. The fans of the show started a petition to save the series by approaching other streaming platforms to pick it up for renewal. It was removed from HBO Max in December 2022.

Blending romance and science fiction, the series follows the relationship between Henry DeTamble, a man with a genetic disorder which causes him to sporadically travel through time for short periods, and Clare Abshire, a woman who met an older version of Henry when she was a girl who told her they were married in the future. Much like the novel on which it is based, the series raises questions about determinism, free will, and identity.

Cast and characters

Main

• Rose Leslie as Clare Abshire Everleigh McDonell as young Clare Caitlin Shorey as pre-teen Clare
• Everleigh McDonell as young Clare
• Caitlin Shorey as pre-teen Clare
• Theo James as Henry DeTamble Jason David as young Henry Brian Altemus as teen Henry
• Jason David as young Henry
• Brian Altemus as teen Henry

Recurring

• Desmin Borges as Gomez
• Natasha Lopez as Charisse
• Michael Park as Philip Abshire
• Jaime Ray Newman as Lucille Abshire
• Taylor Richardson as Alicia Abshire
• Peter Graham as Mark Abshire
• Kate Siegel as Annette DeTamble
• Josh Stamberg as Richard DeTamble
• Chelsea Frei as Ingrid
• Marcia DeBonis as Nell
• Will Brill as Ben
• Spencer House as Jason
• Finn Brown as young Mark Abshire

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Teleplay by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	Episode One	David Nutter	Steven Moffat	May 15, 2022	0.294
2	Episode Two	David Nutter	Steven Moffat	May 22, 2022	0.224
3	Episode Three	David Nutter	Steven Moffat	May 29, 2022	0.159
4	Episode Four	David Nutter	Steven Moffat	June 5, 2022	0.245
5	Episode Five	David Nutter	Steven Moffat	June 12, 2022	0.213
6	Episode Six	David Nutter	Steven Moffat	June 19, 2022	0.203

Production

On July 31, 2018, it was announced that HBO had given the production a straight-to-series order. The series is set to be written by Steven Moffat, based on the novel of the same name by Audrey Niffenegger, who is also set to executive produce alongside Sue Vertue and Brian Minchin. Production companies involved with the series include Hartswood Films and Warner Bros. Television.

In February 2021, Rose Leslie and Theo James were cast as the series leads. In April 2021, Desmin Borges and Natasha Lopez joined the main cast. Filming began on the series in May in New York and ended in October with some filming also taking place in Chicago. David Nutter has directed all six episodes. In May 2021, Caitlin Shorey, Everleigh McDonnell, Michael Park, Jaime Ray Newman, Taylor Richardson, Peter Graham, Brian Altemus, Jason David, Kate Siegel, Josh Stamberg, Chelsea Frei, Marcia DeBonis, Will Brill and Spencer House joined the cast of the series.

The series premiered on May 15, 2022 and was canceled on July 1, soon after the season finished airing.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 38% of 42 critics reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The website s consensus reads, While it s easy to get swept up in the romance of performers as appealing as Rose Leslie and Theo James, The Time Traveler s Wife often kills the mood with its overdetermined conceit. On Metacritic, the series has a score of 45 out of 100, based on 26 critic reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews .

Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph gave the series 2/5 stars, calling it so lazy that episodes begin with the lead characters reading lines straight into the camera, rather than anyone making the effort to work them into the script. Brian Lowry of CNN called the series an admirable effort, but one that simply underscores how unadaptable this material might be . Angie Han of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the setup of the romance, and added: while things do improve from there, hollow characters, an uncertain tone and, most damningly, a total lack of chemistry keep The Time Traveler s Wife from ever quite rising to the level of swoon-worthy. Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly gave it a D grade, saying that it had Bad wigs, limp characterization, indifferent plotting .

Dan Einav of the Financial Times gave the series 3/5 stars, writing: The show is buoyed by the charisma of the two lovers, and it succeeds in mining its conceit for some gentle humour and reflections on love and loss. Lucy Mangan of The Guardian also gave it 3/5 stars, saying that Moffat takes the melodrama down a notch and salts the schmaltz with wit where he can , but criticized the nature of the romance and Clare s passivity. Nick Hilton of The Independent also gave it 3/5 stars, writing: The Time Traveler s Wife does not have the power of the unexpected. But it has a modest, formulaic appeal that will likely keep you going back (and back) for more.

Home media

The complete series was released on DVD, on October 18, 2022.

Year	2022
ReleaseDate	2022-05-15
Plot	Tells the intricate love story of Clare and Henry, and a marriage with a problem… time travel.
Stars	Rose Leslie, Theo James, Everleigh McDonell
Series Produced by	Sarah Rath, Joseph E. Iberti, Tom Lavagnino, Brian Minchin, Steven Moffat, David Nutter, Sue Vertue, Patty Willett, Audrey Niffenegger
Series Music by	Blake Neely
Series Cinematography by	Peter Menzies Jr.
Series Film Editing by	Paul Karasick, Susan Vaill
Series Casting By	Jennifer Euston, David Rubin
Series Production Design by	Henry Dunn
Series Art Direction by	Molly Mikula
Series Set Decoration by	Lydia Marks, Scott Miller
Series Costume Design by	Christopher Peterson
Series Makeup Department	Robert Lugo, Mandy Lyons, Amy Porter, Stella Sensel, Lindsay Gelfand, Anouck Sullivan, Kevin Thomas Garcia, J. Esther Han, David Ian Grant, Briette Madrid, Emily McKim, Ashley Olive, Kacy Tatus, Lani Barry, Candy Diaz, Lily Li, Mio Sota, Sarah Squire, Fiona Tyson, Libby Knapp
Series Production Management	James D. Lee, Kevin McGrail, Joseph E. Iberti, Patty Willett
Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Ashley Rose Folino, Kayse Goodell, Blair Howley, Davis Woodall, Mark Russell, Mark Fichera
Series Art Department	Henry Blazer, Amanda Brinton, Eric Bryant, Diana Burton, Gabu Camilo, Jonathan Collins, Alison Diviney, Jaime Gross, Peaches Harrison, Alex Innocenti, Francis Maiorino, Niles Norton, Blake Paine, William Pavone, Louis J. Porzio, Sun Roller, Adri Siriwatt, Michael Sheridan Smith, Carter Stanislaw, Adrien Van Viersen, Ashley Waldron, Gage Gardner, Sara Price, Jessie Katz, Gary Cergol, Anthony DiDiana, Lauren Rockman, Adam Karavatakis, Kina Park, Blythe R.D. Quinlan
Series Sound Department	Todd Beckett, Jason Benjamin, Doug Madick, Marc Meyer, Nancy Parker, Jessica Goodwin, Jennie Breckenridge, Benjamin Darier, Mark DeSimone, Andre Kelman, Timothy R. Boyce Jr., Richard Hart, Charles Hewitt, Ben McNamara, Keith Morrow, Tom Stewart, Joe White
Series Special Effects by	Cory Brink, Jeff Brink, Doug Facciponti, Mike Maggi, Ryan Nordin, Joseph Sacco
Series Visual Effects by	Mathieu Arseneault, Andrea Atwater, Vojtech Batko, Oliver Bleich, Christian Champagne, Sébastien Chartier, Bruno Martins de Azevedo, Camara Edwards, Andreas Fehrle, Jean-François Ferland, Suzanne Hillner, Tomas Kalhous, Marie-Claude Lafontaine, Charles Lamoureux, Christian Lowe, Amelie Marcoux, Josephine Noh, Kelvin J. Padfield, Andris Pakalns, Jennifer Plouznikoff, Marc-Olivier Rouleau, Mark Russell, Melina Savard, Aurélie Somet, Luke Stirpe, Amy Tang, Vaclav Uhlir, Raphael Valle, Steven Weigle, Bryan Hsu, Maxime Lapointe, Amaya Ayers, Tehmina Beg, Matt Cameron, Marie-Océane Courtois, Matthew T. Perry, Charles Richer, Ashton Claire Thompson, Mark Thurstlic, Vera Dementchouk, Stanislav Franc, Ariyan Hashemi, Alexandre Lamontagne, Nicole Melius, Terner Thompson, Vadim Turchin, Dianshuo Zhang, Xiaoli Zhang, Annie Caps-Wightman, Hank Chang, Martin Cicmanec, Anthony Jones, Pierre-David Myles, Michael Nikitin, David Brna, Jean Nicolas Fidala, Jessica Francoeur, Martine Guay, Lukas Hanousek, Kristina Krasteva, Anna Kubátová, Alexis Leduc, Wesley Lemieux, Sistek Martin, Peter Mercell, Erik Omar, David Piombino, Ondrej Podzimek, Jakub Valica, Patrik Vokoun, Ella Ward, Jain Yashvardhan, Jan Zábranský
Series Stunts	Mark Fichera, Jason Mello, Devin Sanchez, Donald John Hewitt, Mike Burke, Jake Eavey, Shane Geraghty, Rick LeFevour Jr., Dejay Roestenberg, Luciano Acuna Jr., Stephanie Andrews, Frank Bal, Chris Barnes, Spencer Barnes, Nitasha Bhambree, Kyle W. Brown, Richard Buckman, Scott Burik, RJ Burrell, Nico Coucke, Andre Da Silva, Jen Egan, Leigha Hancock, Josh Lakatos, Nick LaRocca, Jason Ng, Christopher Parker, Mark Pettograsso, Christopher Place, Kara Rosella, Jeremy Sample, Aaron Vexler, Michael Viola, Brandon K. Williams, Kyli Zion, Trevor E. Dickerson
Series Camera and Electrical Department	Tristan Allen, George Bianchini, Jake Chappelle, Mark Cyr, Chad Gilchrist, Eddie K. Goldblatt, James Harker, Wesley Hodges, Douglas K. Horton, Bobby Mancuso, Justin Mancuso, Barbara Nitke, Heather Norton, Macall B. Polay, Rich Porta, Jorge Reyes-Ortiz, Bobby Roelofs, Justin Whitkin, Kate Nahvi, Adam Putnam-Thomas, Seth Dean, Dexter Kennedy, Sandy Morris, Jonathan Fernandez, Andrew Peister, Luciana Salinas, Brian Carmichael, John Carone, Patrick Charles, Alfonso Diaz, Aaron Fine, Spencer Muhlstock, Michael Nelson
Series Casting Department	S.J. Allocco, Matt Lander, Grace Gallant, Brittany N. Williams
Series Costume and Wardrobe Department	Jason Adam V, Michael Anzalone, Joseph Armon, Danielle Cadorette, Meghan Corea, Gerald Crawford, Vicky Donner, Beth DuBon, Maureen Fitzgerald, Alice Hood, Ray Kiely, Liz Lee, Robin Lee, Natalie Turturro Mettouchi, Chris Rumery, Tyler Sherrier, Angela Verdino, Christie Levy, Kareena Gardner, Olivia Duca, Silao Afano, Paige Lundgren
Series Editorial Department	John Bonta, Jackson Droege, Vanessa Galvez, Camryn Holly, Jason Maydick, Atefeh Nouri, Mitch Paulson, Lissed Soukiassian, Kelsea Williams, Maedeh Moayyednia, Rachel Mooradian, Mia Pakulski, Jenna Roscoe
Series Location Management	Brandon Bonilla, Oliver Brooks, Nissa Duplessy, David Fox, David A. Girón, Jamel Green, Jordan Hoffman, Joshua Jensen, Christopher Lane, Jacob Lavin, Jorge Peregrina Moran, Ralph Moran, John P. Roxas, Oscar D. Roxas, Jhane Sanders, Stephen Schioppo, Kelly Ulmer, Gayle Vangrofsky, Gabe Cook
Series Music Department	Angela Claverie, Thor Fienberg, Nicoletta Nomicou, Mahamudul Islam Riad, Season Kent, Alexander Lloyd Blake, Udi Harpaz, Ayana Haviv
Series Script and Continuity Department	Sharon Watt, Tressa Giardina
Series Transportation Department	Wesley Petersen
Series Additional Crew	Alexander Barrow, Aaron Braden, Wendy Cohen, Ro Dempsey, Diana Dimitriou, Emma Ecklund, Alex Feinstein, Taly Freidin, Gabe Gilden, Ryan Benjamin Griffin, Sarah Hinchelwood, Albert Jannett, Agron Karameti, Meg McElroy, Dawn Mountain, Terry Notary, Cammy Peloquin, Ryan Peterson, Christine Pitcairn, Rayneese Primrose, Jillian Pugliese, Ramón Rodríguez, Meredith Rovito, RyRo, Omar Samuels, Rocky Kellon Smith, Jennifer Stepanyk, Carl Tapia, Jennifer Walsh, Marcus Watson, Rosemary Orlando, Brett Heidenreich, Oryan Landa, Tempest Morgan, James Carmicle, Tess Fortenberry, Sara DeRosa, Humberto Beto Garcia, Jimmy Nicholas, Courtney Wilbanks
Genres	Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Companies	Hartswood Films, Home Box Office (HBO), Warner Bros. Television
Countries	USA, UK
Languages	English
ContentRating	TV-MA
ImDbRating	7.7
ImDbRatingVotes	15150
MetacriticRating	45
Keywords	psychotronic series,domestic drama,feel good romance,male nudity,time travel