Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time is a high fantasy epic, spanning 14 books and a prequel novella — and its first season just concluded on Amazon Prime Video. The good news, though, is that the response was mostly positive and the second season is official, too.
The story features hundreds of characters and points of view, but it primarily focuses on the exploits of three boys: Rand al'Thor, Matrim Cauthon, and Perrin Aybara. The first book, The Eye of the World, released 30 years ago in 1990 and the series is finally being adapted for the screen. Amazon is taking the lead, bringing Jordan's vision to life. Details have slowly dripped out since the announcement, such as some of the cast members and even a couple of teaser trailers, plus now the official teaser poster.
With season 2 possible to release in 2022, hype for The Wheel of Time is continuing among fans (myself included). In fact, we got to hear a bit more about the story from the showrunner himself during Amazon's panel at Comic-Con@Home.
So here's everything we know about the latest fantasy epic coming to Prime Video.
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The Wheel of Time season 1 release date
According to the teaser trailer, The Wheel of Time season 1 will premiere on Friday, November 19. It's extremely exciting news, for sure.
The Wheel of Time season 1 reviews
Check our our reviews of Episodes 1-3, Episode 4, Episode 5, and Episode 6, to see how we appreciated the show as it changed and evolved from the books.
The Wheel of Time season 1 news
Amazon commissioned The Wheel of Time TV series back in 2018, headed by showrunner Rafe Judkins (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Chuck). Season 1's filming and production began in the Czech Republic, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought things to a halt. Once the world started to open back up again, the crew resumed production.
Season 1 is in the final stages with a scheduled release year of 2021.
The first season will consist of eight episodes with four different directors. Uta Briesewitz will direct the first two, Wayne Yip the third and fourth episodes, Salli Richardson-Whitfield the fifth and sixth, and Ciaran Donnelly the final two episodes.
Based on what we know so far, Judkins himself has written the pilot episode, but each episode thereafter has its own writer.
In a panel during Comic-Con@Home 2021, Rafe Judkins talked about the philosophy behind The Wheel of Time show and how important it is to him to keep everything authentic. While translating a book series to TV has its challenges, Judkins assures us that the core spirit of The Wheel of Time remains intact.
There's also a teaser poster with the release month.
A teaser trailer dropped on September 2, showing off several key details and figures for the show. More importantly, we now have a release date: November 19.
During New York Comic Con, Amazon Prime released a clip from the show, portraying the arrival of Moiraine and Lan to the Winespring Inn. The tension in the room is palpable, but it has strong fantasy vibes and sets up the cool personalities of Moiraine and her Warder.
Amazon dropped a new trailer that shows a lot more details of the show, including the Shadowspawn, Borderlands, Aiel, and some flashbacks to the New Spring prequel novella.
The Wheel of Time season 1 trailers
The Wheel of Time's first teaser trailer premiered on Amazon Prime's YouTube channel on September 2. There's a lot to unpack in it, including key figures, important scenes, and crucial locales. It's seriously a lot of information in the span of two minutes.
We see Moiraine and the Emond's Field folk, the attack on said village, the Aes Sedai who have captured Logain, the Byzantine-inspired Tar Valon, and the cursed city Shadar Logoth. There are battles, the meeting of the Hall of the Tower, and what appears to be Logain escaping his bonds (with what looks like the taint of saidin physically manifesting on his face).
Fans of The Wheel of Time will find a lot to love in this trailer, even if the CGI seems a bit off in places. Remember that the show is not a one-to-one comparison with The Eye of the World, so it's important to keep realistic expectations.
On October 27, Amazon released a new trailer for the Wheel of Time. Suffice to say, there's a lot to unpack here. Not only do we get more shots of the cast, but we see some of the different Trollocs up close (including Narg, perhaps?). There's also shots of when the party visit Shienar in the Borderlands, a Whitecloak that hunts Aes Sedai, and a flashback to the Aiel War. The latter is especially awesome, because we get to see Aiel! It's possible that there's a very, very brief shot of Loial in the background, too.
The Wheel of Time season 1 new posters
During Amazon's panel at Comic-Con@Home, showrunner Rafe Judkins showed off the new teaser poster for The Wheel of Time. It shows lead character Moiraine (played by Rosamund Pike) standing between two stone walls. Down at the bottom of the image, you can see what I think are weaves of the One Power. Robert Jordan used the visual symbolism of weaving and threads to depict uses of magic and of the Wheel of Time itself.
The poster also tells us when we can finally watch The Wheel of Time: November 2021.
At New York Comic Con 2021, Amazon Prime Video showed a new clip and poster, the latter of which you can see above. In it, we see the cast of heroes from Emond's Field with Moiraine and Lan. And at the top, we see one of the horrifying and mysterious Myrddraal, half-men beings of shadow hunting the party from Emond's Field.
A new poster released after a community-wide puzzle game came out in mid-October. Here we see Moiraine and Lan, likely after the Emond's Field battle since Moiraine is holding a dead Trolloc by its head. The smoldering ruins in the background also lead us to believe that this shot represents the current time in the show after Moiraine and Lan arrive in Emond's Field.
We've just surpassed 100,000 followers on Twitter and we're grateful the seven heroes in these paintings will have all this assistance come November 19th. A few ta'veren together may move the Pattern, but our fans move us every single day. #TheWheelOfTimeOctober 29, 2021
Late in October, the Wheel of Time Twitter account posted a series of posters showing the seven main characters with different backgrounds. On the surface, these are nice posters, but it's when you look at the layered PDF versions where you'll notice weaves connecting all of the characters.
For the sake of spoilers, we won't talk about the weaves and their shapes might mean, but rest assured that they have significant meaning for season 1 and well beyond (even to the end of the series in one character's case, but it's subtle). Wheel of Time fans will be able to find the important bits, but the designers did a good job at hiding the fun stuff.
The Wheel of Time season 1 episodes
We know the titles of the first six episodes of The Wheel of Time's first season.
- The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 1, "Leavetaking"
- The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 2, "Shadow's Waiting"
- The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 3, "A Place of Safety"
- The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 4, "The Dragon Reborn"
- The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 5, "Blood Calls Blood"
- The Wheel of Time season 1, episode 6, " The Flame of Tar Valon"
The Wheel of Time season 1 cast
The Wheel of Time is known, in part, for its incredible variety of characters. Amazon has revealed the main cast for The Wheel of Time, led by Rosamund Pike as the mystical Moiraine Damodred, a member of the Aes Sedai order. Aes Sedai are women who wield the One Power and serve as The Wheel of Time's magic users — men who wield magic are hunted down and captured.
Here are the castings we know so far.
- Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred, Aes Sedai and leader of the party who leave Emond's Field
- Daniel Henny as al'Lan Mandragoran, Moiraine's warder and guardian
- Josha Stradowski as Rand al'Thor, farm boy
- Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon, the trickster and ne'er-do-well of the party
- Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, the soft-spoken blacksmith's apprentice
- Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere, the mayor's daughter and a woman destined for greatness
- Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al’Meara, village wisewoman with a sharp tongue
- Michael McElhatton as Tam Al’Thor, Rand's stalwart father
- Hammed Animashun as Loial, a loyal friend throughout the series
- Alvaro Morte as Logain Ablar, one who aspires to the name Dragon Reborn
- Alexandre Willaume as Thom Merrilin, the gleeman (bard) who takes the young ones under his wing
- Johann Myers as Padan Fain, the dark and twisted servant of the Dark One
- Michael Tuahine as Bran Al’Vere, the mayor of Emond's Field
- Lolita Chakrabarti as Marin Al’Vere, the mayor's wife
- David Sterne as Cenn Buie, the village thatcher
- Christopher Sciueref as Abell Cauthon, Mat's father
- Juliet Howland as Natti Cauthon, Mat's mother
- Mandi Symonds as Daise Congar/er, a member of the village's Women's Circle
- Kae Alexander as Min Farshaw who gets wrapped up in Rand's fate
- Abdul Salis as Eamon Valda, an officer in the religious paramilitary Children of the Light
- Stuart Graham as Geofram Bornhald, another Children of the Light officer
- Pasha Bocarie as Master Grinwell, a farmer that Rand meets on his journey
- Jennifer Preston as Mistress Grinwell, Master Grinwell's wife
- Izuka Hoyle as Dana
- Darren Clarke as Basel Gill, a friendly innkeeper
- Narinder Samra as Raen, one of traveling Tinkers
- Maria Doyle Kennedy as Ila, Raen's wife
- Daryl McCormack as Aram, Raen and Ila's grandson
- Sophie Okonedo as Siuan Sanche, the Amyrlin Seat and leader of the Aes Sedai
- Priyanka Bose as Alanna Mosvani, an Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah
- Emmanuel Imani as Ihvon, one of Alanna's warders
- Taylor Napier at Maksim, Alanna's other warder
- Jennifer Cheon Garcia as Leane Sharif, Keeper of the Chronicles and assistant to the Amyrlin Seat
- Kate Fleetwood as Liandrin Guirale, an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah
- Clare Perkins as Kerene Nagashi, an Aes Sedai and the Captain-General of the Green Ajah
- Peter Franzén as Stepin, Kerene's warder
The Wheel of Time season 1 extras
We're not too far out from the debut of The Wheel of Time, and we've had trailers and new posters to tide us over. Things are looking pretty good, though I have a few reservations that more nitpicks as a huge fan of the books. But following here are more supplementary content that give us a better idea of what to expect for the show.
Moving on, we have the first teaser trailer showing Rosamund Pike as Moiraine. Check it out.
The next is a similarly teasing trailer showing Daniel Henny as Lan Mandragon.
Finally, next are the few teasers that The Wheel of Time Twitter account has posted. The first is a glimpse of the Winesping Inn in the village of Emond's Field, the village where Moiraine and Lan meet the main characters before the world turns upside down.
The second video shows the design process for one of the weapons in The Wheel of Time. This is the heron-marked sword that Rand's father gives to him. Heron-marked blades signify a blademaster in The Wheel of Time's world. We don't want to spoil anything else for you, though.
This next clip is a visual representation of saidin and saidar, the male and female halves of the One Power. This the magic system in the world of The Wheel of Time and is the driving force of many of the series' events. Saidin has been corrupted by the Dark One, cursing all men who wield to eventually go mad. The yin-yang symbolism is important in The Wheel of Time's story.
This video shows off the ruby dagger, a "treasure" that Mat Cauthon finds and takes from the evil and cursed city called Shadar Logoth. It plays a critical role in the events of the first book and several of the others thereafter. It links Mat to the twisted Padan Fain.
The Wheel of Time season 1 spoilers
Shortly after the official trailer dropped, leaked images of the show appeared online. Some show set design, some are stills before CG effects, and others are shots from the show itself. Some spoil new characters that we haven't seen yet.
In the interest of fairness to those who haven't read The Wheel of Time, or who want to go into the show as blind as possible, we won't share the images here. You can, however, find them on your own.
The Wheel of Time season 2
In other news, Amazon has renewed The Wheel of Time for a second season already. Word on filming and production remains sparse right now, but news about it will likely come later in the year or next year.
Amazon announced that filming for season 2 started on July 19, 2021.
Among other things, we have some new castings for Season 2, which has been written and is currently in the process of filming.
- Dónal Finn at Matrim Cauthon (replacing Barney Harris)
- Ceara Coveney as Elayne Trakand
- Natasha O’Keeffe as TBA
- Meera Syal as TBA
The first episode will be called A Taste of Solitude, written by Amanda Kate Shuman. Further episode titles, writers, and all directors are thus far unknown.
