The ambitious project starring Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower and Eva Green wont continue because of “production challenges,” says Starz.

Starz has decided not to move forward with a second season of its period piece, Camelot.

Though the series came out of the gate strong, delivering Starz’ largest ever opening for a new drama in early April, it struggled to break out in a particularly crowded cable landscape (see AMC’s The Killing, HBO’s Game of Thrones and Showtime’s Borgias). A Starz rep noted hefty production hurdles in a statement: “Due to significant production challenges, Starz has decided not to exercise the option for subsequent seasons of Camelot with our production partners GK-tv, Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions.”

The ambitious project — a contemporary retelling of the Arthurian legend starring Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower and Eva Green– was the first series order made by Chris Albrecht, who took the reins as chief executive in early 2010. As he and his executives have said, the series fit squarely with the channel’s desire to focus on big, popcorn fare that can play well domestically as well as internationally. In this case, the Irish-based Camelot did satisfy the latter.

The news comes just a month and a half after Starz unveiled a Camelot game on Facebook, a means to further engage viewers and generate ancillary revenue for the period show.

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