''The Wheel of Time'' is an American

high fantasy High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...

television series developed by Rafe Judkins for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

. The series is based on the novel series of the same name by

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

with

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The ...

. The first season, consisting of eight episodes, premiered on Prime Video on November 19, 2021, with the first three episodes released immediately and the remaining five on a weekly basis after that, culminating in the season finale on December 24, 2021. The series was renewed for a second season in May 2021, before the series premiered. In July 2022, ahead of the second-season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.

Premise

''The Wheel of Time'' follows Moiraine, a member of the Aes Sedai, a powerful organization of women who can channel the One Power. With her Warder, Lan, she seeks a group of five young villagers from the secluded Two Rivers, believing one of them is the reincarnation of the Dragon, an extremely powerful channeller who broke the world. The Dragon Reborn is prophesied to either save the world from a primordial evil known as the Dark One, or break it once more.

Cast and characters

Main

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is a British actress. She began her acting career by appearing in stage productions such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Gas Light''. After her screen debut in the television film ''A Rather English Marriage'' ...

Moiraine Damodred This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's '' The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named character ...

, an Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah who is searching for the Dragon Reborn *

Daniel Henney Daniel Phillip Henney (born November 28, 1979) is an American actor and model. He first came into international prominence with his television debut as Dr. Henry Kim on the Korean drama '' My Lovely Sam Soon'' (2005). He has gone on to star in ...

al'Lan Mandragoran This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's '' The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named character ...

, Moiraine's Warder and companion *

Zoë Robins Zoë Robins is a New Zealand actress, who played Hayley Foster in '' Power Rangers: Ninja Steel'' and Nynaeve al'Meara in ''The Wheel of Time''. Career Robins was born in 1993 and had her first acting role at age 12 in '' The New Tomorrow''. ...

as Nynaeve al'Meara, Wisdom of Emond's Field *

Madeleine Madden Madeleine Madden (born 29 January 1997) is an Australian actress. She is best known for playing Egwene al'Vere in the Amazon Prime series ''The Wheel of Time''. Early life Madden grew up around Redfern, a Sydney inner city suburb, and attended ...

Egwene al'Vere This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's ''The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named characters ...

, a villager from Emond's Field in Two Rivers suspected of being the Dragon Reborn * Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor, a villager from Emond's Field suspected of being the Dragon Reborn * Marcus Rutherford as

Perrin Aybara This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's '' The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named character ...

, a villager from Emond's Field suspected of being the Dragon Reborn * Barney Harris (season 1) and Dónal Finn (season 2) as

Mat Cauthon This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's ''The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named characters. ...

, a villager from Emond's Field suspected of being the Dragon Reborn *

Kate Fleetwood Kate Fleetwood (born 24 September 1972) is an English actress. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Lady Macbeth in '' Macbeth'', which first opened at Chichester Festival Theatre and was transferred to the West End and B ...

as Liandrin Guirale, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah *

Priyanka Bose Priyanka Bose is an Indian actress and model. Active on stage and in films, she is best known for her role in the Italian film '' Gangor,'' among others. Priyanka started her film career with small roles in '' Love Sex aur Dhokha'', '' Sorry Bh ...

as Alanna Mosvani, an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah * Hammed Animashaun as Loial, an Ogier *

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA Television Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. She began her f ...

as Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat *

Kae Alexander Kae Yukawa, known professionally as Kae Alexander, is a Japanese-born British actress. She gained prominence through her role as Jing Hua in '' Bad Education'' and its spinoff film. She played Leaf in the sixth season of ''Game of Thrones'', Li ...

as Min Farshaw *

Fares Fares Fares Fares (; born 29 April 1973) is a Swedish-Lebanese actor of Assyrian descent. Early life Fares was born in Beirut, Lebanon. His younger brother is director Josef Fares, and he has four sisters. In 1987, when Fares was 14 years old, his ...

as Ba'alzamon, also known as Ishamael "the Betrayer of Hope"

Supporting

Lolita Chakrabarti Lolita Chakrabarti (born 1 June 1969) is a British actress and writer. Early life Chakrabarti was born in Kingston upon Hull, England, to Bengali Hindu parents from India on 1 June 1969. She grew up in Birmingham, where her father worked as ...

as Marin al'Vere * Michael Tuahine as Bran al'Vere *

Michael McElhatton Michael McElhatton (born 12 September 1963) is an Irish actor and writer. He is best known for playing the role of Roose Bolton in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. He joined the series as a guest star in the Game of Thrones (season 2), sec ...

as Tam al'Thor * Johann Myers as Padan Fain, a traveling merchant * Naana Agyei Ampadu as Danya, Two Rivers resident * Mandi Symonds as Daise Congar * David Sterne as Cenn Buie * Juliet Howland as Natti Cauthon * Christopher Sciueref as Abell Cauthon * Petr Simcák as Tom Thane * Litiana Biutanaseva as Bode Cauthon * Lilibet Bituanaseva as Eldrin Cauthon *

Abdul Salis Abdul Wahab Mumuni (born 6 July 1979), known professionally as Abdul Salis, is a British actor. He played paramedic Curtis Cooper on ''Casualty'', the longest-running medical drama broadcast in the UK. He is the son of Ghanaian parents who mo ...

as Eamon Valda, a Whitecloak * Stuart Graham as Geofram Bornhald, a Whitecloak *

Pearce Quigley Pearce Quigley is an English actor of the stage and screen. He plays Will in the BBC Radio 4 Sitcom ''Alone''. Theatre credits ''The Seagull'' (Royal Court); ''Paul'' (National Theatre); '' Journey's End'' (Comedy Theatre); ''My Night with R ...

as Master Hightower, a ferryman *

Alexandre Willaume Alexandre Willaume (born 20 December 1972) is a Danish actor having had roles in '' Home Fires'' (2016), ''Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'' and ''The Last Kingdom '' (2017), ''Tomb Raider'' (2018), '' COBRA'' and '' The Head '' ...

Thom Merrilin This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's ''The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named characters. ...

, a gleeman *

Álvaro Morte Álvaro Antonio García Pérez (born 23 February 1975), known professionally as Álvaro Morte, is a Spanish actor. He gained worldwide recognition for playing the role of ' The Professor' in the television series ''Money Heist''. Early life � ...

as Logain Ablar *

Clare Perkins Clare Perkins (born 18 August 1965) is an English actress who is known for her roles as Denise Boulter in ''Family Affairs'' and Ava Hartman in ''EastEnders''. Career Perkins' first role was as Opal in the 1991 TV film 'Hallelujah Anyhow' in t ...

as Kerene Nagashi, an Aes Sedai *

Izuka Hoyle Chantelle Izuka Hoyle (born 18 January 1996) is a Scottish actress. She began her career in theatre. She won a Scottish BAFTA for her performance in the film ''Boiling Point'' (2021). On television, she is known for her roles in the CW series '' T ...

as Dana, a barmaid *

Peter Franzén Peter Vilhelm Franzén (born 14 August 1971) is a Finnish actor, author, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for his role as King Harald Finehair in '' Vikings'' (2016–2020). Personal life Franzén was born in Keminmaa, north Finland. ...

as Stepin, a Warder * Daryl McCormack as Aram, a Tinker * Narinder Samra as Raen, a Tinker *

Maria Doyle Kennedy Maria Josephine Doyle Kennedy (born 25 September 1964) is an Irish singer and actress. With a singing and acting career that has spanned more than 30 years, she has established herself as one of Ireland's most prolific artists and entertainers. ...

as Illa, a Tinker * Taylor Napier as Maksim, Alanna's Warder * Emmanuel Imani as Ihvon, Alanna's Warder * Miguel Álvarez as King of Ghealdan * Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand * Guys Roberts as Uno Nomesta * Arnas Fedaravicius as Masema Dagar * Gregg Chillingirian as Ingtar Shinowa * Amar Chadha-Patel as Lord Yakota * Thomas Chaanhing as Lord Agelmar * Sanra Yi Sencindiver as Lady Amalisa

Episodes

Production

Background

In 2000,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

optioned the screen rights to

's fantasy novel series ''

The Wheel of Time ''The Wheel of Time'' is a series of high fantasy novels by American author Robert Jordan, with Brandon Sanderson as a co-author for the final three novels. Originally planned as a six-book series, ''The Wheel of Time'' spans 14 volumes, in ad ...

'' but did not ultimately proceed with the production. In 2004, Jordan sold the film, television, video game, and comic rights to the series to production company Red Eagle Entertainment. In 2015, Red Eagle Entertainment paid air time to cable network

FXX FXX is an American basic cable channel owned by the Walt Disney Television unit of The Walt Disney Company through FX Networks, LLC. It is the partner channel of FX, with its programming focusing on original and acquired comedy series and fe ...

to air ''Winter Dragon'', a 22-minute pilot for a potential ''The Wheel of Time'' series starring

Billy Zane William George Zane Jr. (born February 24, 1966) is an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1989 Australian film ''Dead Calm'', a performance that earned him a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promi ...

and Max Ryan that allowed Red Eagle to hold on to the rights to the project. Subsequently, the company sued Jordan's widow, Harriet McDougal, for her comments about the pilot; the lawsuit was settled in 2016. In April 2016, McDougal announced that a major studio was undergoing contract negotiations for production on a TV series.

Development

A new adaptation of the series was announced on April 20, 2017, produced by

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainme ...

in association with Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures. Rafe Judkins was expected to serve as showrunner for the series and executive produce alongside Rick Selvage, Larry Mondragon,

Ted Field Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field (born June 1, 1953) is an American media mogul, record executive, entrepreneur and film producer. He co-founded Interscope Records with Jimmy Iovine and founded Interscope Communications to develop and produce fi ...

, Mike Weber,

Lauren Selig Lauren Selig is an American film producer, businesswoman, writer and philanthropist. She is co-founder of Shake and Bake Productions, VALIS Virtual Reality, Curiosity Ink and Tangled Little Dragon. She is a venture partner at Bold Capital Partners ...

and

Darren Lemke Darren Lemke (born ) is an American screenwriter who has been active in the film industry since the late 1990s. His first major screenwriting credit was for ''Shrek Forever After'' (2010), which he wrote with Josh Klausner. Lemke directed the thr ...

. McDougal was set to serve as a consulting producer. By October 2018, the series had been in development for a year, and

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

had agreed to produce it. In January 2019, Judkins announced that two additional writers, Michael and Paul Clarkson, had joined the production's writing team. By April 2019, Kelly Valentine Hendry had been attached as casting director. In June 2019, it was announced that Rosamund Pike, who portrays Moiraine Damodred, would also serve as a producer.

, who had completed the book series following Robert Jordan's death, was also confirmed to be serving as consulting producer along with McDougal. On various occasions, Sanderson wrote about his contributions to the production, which he described as "reading the scripts and offering feedback directly to Rafe, the showrunner". Judkins has said that Maria Simons, a long-time editorial assistant to Robert Jordan and McDougal, also provides feedback on scripts. The lead characters from Emond's Field were written as older than their book counterparts. The production team thought that television shows with seventeen-year-old lead characters could feel like young adult fiction, which was not a genre they felt was suitable for the series. Uta Briesewitz was confirmed as the director of the first two episodes in February 2019. Salli Richardon-Whitfield was confirmed to be directing episodes five and six in November 2019, and

Wayne Yip Wayne Che Yip (born 1981) is a British film director, most notably connected with ''Utopia'', ''Doctor Who'' and Amazon Prime’s '' The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power''. Early life and education Wayne was born in Oxford in 1981 and wa ...

was confirmed to be directing episodes three and four in December. The director of episodes seven and eight,

Ciaran Donnelly Ciaran Donnelly (born 2 April 1984) is an English former professional footballer. He now the Academy Director at Blackpool. Thomas Napper, Maja Vrvilo, and

Sanaa Hamri Sanaa Hamri ( ar, سناء حمري; born November 19, 1977) is a Moroccan-American film, television, and music video director. She has directed music videos for musicians including Prince, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Sting. She is k ...

have been reported to be directing episodes of season 2, with Hamri directing half of the season and serving as an executive producer. On July 21, 2022, ahead of the second-season premiere, Amazon renewed the series for a third season.

Casting

was cast as the lead Moiraine in June 2019. Further main cast members were announced in August 2019:

Lan Mandragoran This article serves as an index of major characters in the fictional setting of Robert Jordan's ''The Wheel of Time'' series, with a description of their main roles or feats in the series. ''The Wheel of Time'' has 2787 distinct named characters. ...

, Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara,

as Nynaeve al'Meara, Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon, and

as Egwene al'Vere.

was announced to be playing Tam al'Thor in early November 2019. Irish actor Daryl McCormack was said to have been cast in an undisclosed role in mid-November 2019, later revealed to be the role of Aram. Several more main cast members were announced in December 2019: Alexandre Willaume as Thom Merrilin, Johann Myers as Padan Fain, Hammed Animashaun as Loial, Alvaro Morte as Logain Ablar,

as Alanna Mosvani, Taylor Napier as Maksim, and Emmanuel Imani as Ivhon . In January 2020,

posted on her

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

page that she had been cast to play the role of Liandrin Guirale. In March 2020, Jen Cheon Garcia announced that she had been cast as Leane Sharif. In June 2020, eight additional roles were announced:

as Marin Al'Vere, Michael Tuahine as Bran Al'Vere, David Sterne as Cenn Buie, Christopher Sciueref as Abell Cauthon, Juliet Howland as Natti Cauthon, Mandi Symonds as Daise Conger,

as Eamon Valda, and Stuart Graham as Geofram Bornhald. In July 2020, Darren Clarke was revealed to be playing the role of Basel Gill. That same month,

and Narinder Samra were cast as Illa and Raen, respectively.

as Siuan Sanche,

as Min Farshaw, Peter Franzen as Stepin, and

as Kerene Nagashi were all announced in August 2020. In September 2021, it was announced that Harris would not be returning for the second season and that Dónal Finn would be playing the role of Mat going forward. In October 2021, Ceara Coveney,

Natasha O'Keeffe Natasha Dervill O'Keeffe (born 1 December 1986) is a British actress. She is known for her roles as Abbey in the E4 series '' Misfits'' (2012–2013), Fedora in the ITV series '' Jekyll and Hyde'' (2015), Emilia Ricoletti in the '' Sherlock' ...

and

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...

joined the cast as series regulars for the second season, with Coveney confirmed to be playing the role of Elayne Trakand. In December 2021, three recurring cast members were announced: Guys Roberts as Uno Nomesta, Arnas Fedaravicius as Masema Dagar, and Gregg Chillingirian as Ingtar Shinowa. The role of Ingtar was originally to be played by Amar Chadha-Patel, but due to scheduling conflicts his role was changed to "Lord Yakota". Thomas Chaanhing was confirmed for the role of Lord Agelmar and Sanra Yi Sencindiver was confirmed for the role of Lady Amalisa. In April 2022, it was announced that Ayoola Smart would play the role of Aviendha.

Filming

Season 1

Table reads with the cast had begun by early October 2019.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

for the first season started on September 16, 2019. Filming in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

was halted in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

but had resumed by April 2021 and concluded in May 2021. Jordan Studios in Prague, constructed for the production, served as the primary production base. Other filming locations included parts of the Czech Republic;

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

, Croatia;

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of t ...

, Spain; Slovenia; and the Canary Islands. Judkins has said that shooting in the Canary Islands was intended to be more extensive, but "because of COVID-19 we were not able to do that. It had been scouted, so we sent our drone and visual effects teams to build where we were going to go into a 3D digital world that we could then put our actors into.". In a behind-the-scenes video, Season 1 finale director Ciaran Donnelly said that scenes taking place in The Blight were supposed to be shot on

Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third smallest of the eight main islands of this archipelago. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tene ...

, but COVID restrictions prevented traveling there. He credited production designer Ondrej Nekvasil with designing an artificial forest that could be built in Jordan Studios as a replacement. Filming in the Czech Republic qualified the production for the Czech Film Fund's incentive program, making available CZK 352million (US $16.3million) in incentives. Executive producer Marigo Kehoe said that "For us shooting here in the Czech Republic was the only choice". Filming in Slovenia similarly qualified the production for tax incentives of $314 thousand. Prague's Z Molu Es Kennel provided wolfdogs for the production between October 2019 and February 2020.

Season 2

Filming for the second season began on July 19, 2021, and filming in Prague was scheduled to conclude by February 2022.

Jindřichův Hradec Jindřichův Hradec (; german: Neuhaus) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 21,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument rese ...

, Calanchi Di Aliano, Ginosa, Letohrádek Hvězda,

Barrandov Studios Barrandov Studios is a set of film studios in Prague, Czech Republic. It is the largest film studio in the country and one of the largest in Europe. Several major Hollywood productions have been made here, including '' Mission Impossible'', ' ...

, CLA Studios in

Ouarzazate Ouarzazate (; ar, ورزازات, Warzāzāt, ; ary, وارزازات, Wārzāzāt; shi, label= Berber, ⵡⴰⵔⵣⴰⵣⴰⵜ, Warzazat), nicknamed ''the door of the desert'', is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of D ...

, Masseria Lo Spagnulo, Masseria Borzone, and Chateau Karlova Koruna were reported as filming locations, along with Jordan Studios in Prague. More than 500 of the production crew's 600 members are reported to be residents of the Czech Republic.

Music

Showrunner Rafe Judkins said that for the soundtrack he "did not want to be what the cliché is, i.e., typical, what one would expect of that genre". Composer Lorne Balfe instead referred to "a big hot pot of different styles" such as Balinese,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

, Southern, and

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

, feeling that it was important to give the soundtrack more modern touches and "not to make it just traditional 'medieval folk music'". In incorporating the fictional language "Old Tongue" into the soundtrack, Balfe worked with a dialect and language coach to ensure lyrics were grammatically correct and had them written out phonetically for singers. He said that "when watching the show the vocals are the narrative of the scene…They're to do with actually supporting the storyline of the scene and the character's development." The first of four albums for season one, titled "The First Turn", was released on November 12, 2021, by

Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...

in digital, CD, and vinyl formats. The album contained fourteen tracks that were largely conceptual but contained key themes that spawned variations in the final score. Balfe said that "The score to this series is a re-imagination of fantasy music, doing away with the genre's reliance on large, traditional orchestras in favor of more modern colors while retaining the strong melodies and bold harmonies that fans can expect from such an epic."

Season 1

A second album, "The Wheel of Time: Season 1, Volume 1", was released on November 19, 2021, featuring music that was largely used in season one's first three episodes. "The Wheel of Time: Season 1, Volume 2", was released on December 3, 2021. The final album, "The Wheel of Time: Season 1, Volume 3", was released on December 17, 2021.

Season 2

On January 12, 2022, Balfe confirmed that he would be returning to score Season 2.

Visual effects

In early 2020, Julian Perry was attached to the series as Overall Visual Effects Supervisor. Special effects company Cinesite was revealed to be working on the visual effects of the series in April 2020. Additional VFX work was done by MPC Episodic, Outpost VFX, Automatik VFX, Union VFX, RISE, DNEG,

Framestore Framestore is a British animation, visual effects company and creative studio based on Chancery Lane in London. Formed in 1986, it acquired (and subsequently merged with) the Computer Film Company in 1997. It works on feature films and telev ...

Scanline A scan line (also scanline) is one line, or row, in a raster scanning pattern, such as a line of video on a cathode ray tube (CRT) display of a television set or computer monitor. On CRT screens the horizontal scan lines are visually discernible, ...

, Zelda VFX and Ombrium VFX. In an interview, Perry discussed how the challenging nature of the show and a more limited post-production period resulting from the 2020 production halt required them to work with a large number of VFX studios to "help spread workload".

Release

The series premiered on the streaming service

on November 19, 2021, with the first three episodes available immediately and the rest debuting on a weekly basis. The first two episodes premiered in theaters in London, UK, and select cities across the US on November 15, 2021, ahead of the streaming release of the first three episodes. The series was the most-watched Prime Video premiere of 2021 and among the most-watched Prime Video premieres on record; the premiere was also the most-

pirated Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

television program of the week. The series had "the greatest average audience demand in the US in the first 30 days after its premiere of any new series" in 2021. According to Nielsen, season one accumulated 4.91 billion viewing minutes, making it the second-most watched season of a Prime Video original series on Nielsen's records. The first volume in the book series, ''

The Eye of the World ''The Eye of the World'' is a high fantasy novel by American writer Robert Jordan, the first book of '' The Wheel of Time'' series. It was published by Tor Books and released on 15 January 1990. The unabridged audiobook is read by Michael K ...

'', saw a spike in sales that has been attributed to the series release. For the week of November 28, 2021, it was the second-most sold book across all formats on Amazon.com. It also made the January 2022 ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list in the mass market fiction category list and was number one on the audio fiction list.

Reception

Critical reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reports an 82% approval rating and an average rating of 7.05/10, based on 93 reviews. The critics' consensus reads, "''The Wheel of Time''s revolutions can be a bit creaky as it tries to stand out from other fantasy series, but it succeeds admirably in making Robert Jordan's epic approachable for the uninitiated."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 55 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Ed Power of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' gave the series 4 out of 5, writing: "In its early episodes this big Wheel has enough sweep, mystique and momentum to suggest that it can keep on turning and give Amazon the global hit it dearly craves." Keith Phipps of

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

gave the series 4 out of 5, writing: "Most importantly, it works as a piece of storytelling, creating an elaborate fictional universe but also reasons for viewers to care about that universe's fate and intrigue about what happens next." Lucy Mangan of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' gave the series 3 out of 5, writing: "It's absolutely fine. It's got brio, it's got style and it's got enough portentous voiceover book-ending events to make everything feel high stakes." John Doyle of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' wrote that the series had "a certain charm in its depiction of ordinary people living in this beautiful but fraught place", but criticized it for what he described as "an overreliance on special effects and spectacle, to the point where you'd rather get back to the people involved." Preeti Chibber of ''Polygon'' stated, "''The Wheel of Time'' is a very strong start to a much-awaited series and created by someone who has a clear understanding of how adaptations can soar when complementing their source material rather than just copying it." Mini Anthikad Chhibber of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'' described watching the first two episodes of the series as "a fun experience", and praised the visuals and action. Alan Sepinwall of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' gave the series 2 out of 5, praising the show's visuals and writing that it "may bring in some fantasy fans starved for any morsel of magic and wonder", but added: "the whole thing is empty, if expensive, calories." Fiona Sturges of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' gave the series 2 out of 5, writing: "While there is enough violence and faux-mysticism to keep genre fans happy, convincing human interactions are harder to find." Chancellor Agard, writing for ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'', noted a lack of character development despite the series' overall watchability. ''Variety'' criticized the series for speeding through too much story. Brian Lowry of CNN described the series as "Amazon's poor-man's version of ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

''", and wrote: "the characters simply don't possess enough pop to draw in those who don't come immersed in the mythology, and the special effects are uneven."

Accolades

Spin-offs

''Wheel of Time: Origins''

Six animated "Origins" shorts were released alongside the release of season 1 which provide additional context about the show's fictional world. These three-minute videos are titled "The Breaking of the World", "The Fall of Manetheren", "The Greatest Warder", "Saidar, Saidin, Stone", "The White Tower", and "An Ogier's Longing". These shorts were written by Rammy Park and directed by Dan DiFelice with Judkins, Craig Muller, and Mike Weber serving as executive producers. Rupert Degas, Ida May, Steven Hartley, and Evelyn Miller served as narrators. In writing the episodes, Park wanted each to be focused on concepts that tied in thematically with the main show, might be of interest to series newcomers, and that long-time readers of the books might like to see visually. After Muller and Weber approved each script, Judkins gave the final approval, ensuring that an episode did not spoil information the writers intend the main show to convey later on. Director Dan DiFelice said that he wanted to take full advantage of the animated medium and not "just take live action and paint over it", and that he wanted to capture a "certain grittiness, mood, and texture" in the art style and direction. His team consisted of a "huge team from MPC but then all these freelancers, globally..." During a panel at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

2022, it was announced that more episodes of ''Origins'' would be released starting in August 2022. The first of these would be focused on the character of Lan Mandragoran.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheel of Time (TV series), The Epic television series American fantasy drama television series 2020s American drama television series 2021 American television series debuts English-language television shows Amazon Prime Video original programming American action adventure television series Serial drama television series Television shows based on American novels Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series by Amazon Studios High fantasy television series The Wheel of Time Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Television shows filmed in the Czech Republic