At long last, the first real look at The Wheel of Time is here. We’ve gotten tiny peeks and glimpses aplenty, but nothing like the images Entertainment Weekly shared today: four shots showing a key location, an important moment, and just about all the major players.
Of course, these peeks don’t show anything too major. But here are the characters we’ve been waiting to see: Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al’Meara; Barney Harris as Matrim Cauthon; Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran (without armor?); Rosamund Pike as Moiraine Damodred (with a very noticeable ring); Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere; Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara; and Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor.
Showrunner @rafejudkins previews his TV take on @TheWheelOfTime. https://t.co/ZnFaHD7WrK
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) August 18, 2021
Among the other photos are Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden) and Rand sharing a quiet moment on a nice rock; the Taking of Logain (Alvaro Morte), as he’s captured by Alanna Mosvani (Priyanka Bose) and Kerene Nagashi (Clare Perkins); Lan carrying Moraine at Shadar Logoth. In the accompanying story, showrunner Rafe Judkins says, “We literally built Shadar Logoth from scratch just for 15 minutes of airtime, because it’s that important to the series.”
We’ve been waiting to see these characters come to life since at least 2018, when Amazon first ordered the show to series. At the time, the official summary read:
Set in a sprawling world where magic exists but can only be used by women, the story follows Moiraine, a member of the shadowy and influential all-female organization the Aes Sedai, as she embarks on a dangerous journey with five young men and women. Moiraine’s interest in these five lies in the fact that she believes one of them might be the reincarnation of an incredibly powerful individual who prophecies say will either save humanity or destroy it.
Here, finally, are all five of those men and women in the flesh. What do you think?
The Wheel of Time premieres on Amazon in November. Hopefully they’ll tell us exactly when in November before much longer.
Buy the Book
The Eye of the World: Book One of The Wheel of Time
I’m excited!
Although something about the way the conflict between male and female channelers (and Logain specifically) was described seemed a little off; but I’m not sure if that’s just because whomever is writing the article is just relaying what they’ve heard and they are still trying to keep a lot close to the chest. But it kind of gives the implication that the Aes Sedai just don’t want men competing with them for power.
that picture of Logain is so unexpected but SO GOOD, it gave me goosebumps! I don’t love Rand’s coat in that first shot, it looks a little too modern(?) but I am reserving final judgment until we see it in action. It’s at least thematically appropriate that he’s wearing something that really stands out from the rest of the cast.
Meh. The production design doesn’t exactly look “lived in” (see the cage hardware), but that’s a common mistake made with filmed fantasy. I’m not a fan of the books, but I’ll bite if it reviews well…
@1, From what I recall of reading the books over a decade ago, the Aes Sedai were actively against men with power running around free.
Got a bad feeling about the main pic with the party all on foot. Give us Bela or we riot!
I expected quality and from the scope in the pictures released, it looks promising.
From a narrative aspect, I’m less enthusiastic. The easy comparison to make is that although initial budget constraints and filmic choices from GoT Producers were less than faithful, their aim was unerring when it came to reproducing the Touchstone Moments from the published works. From Bran’s fall, to Ned’s fate, to Blackwater and so on.
Even from the little that we know so far, WoT has sacrificed at least 3 established moments from the books and replaced them with wholly invented, inserted scenarios where the names have not been changed to protect the innocent.
The Logain situation imo is an especially important Touchstone Moment that seems to have been Lost.
I have doubts about Shadar Logoth as well, but that has enough to carry the scene even if the rumoured wholesale changes are as complete as described in various ethereal crannies.
I have faith the quality will be more than enough to keep me watching, but not without regret that, unlike GoT, chances to easily reproduce the Touchstone Moments from the books were unnecessarily ignored/avoided/transposed.
Not thrilled with the costuming,but that’s par for the course. Apparently they’re ignoring the Warder Cloak effect which admittedly would be distracting on screen.
@1, the original article does mention the taint but it doesn’t say that men will go mad from it. The article definitely describe it weird, I think part of it is keeping things close to the chest but another part is trying to describe it to people who don’t know anything about the books.
The only person who looks like they’re wearing Two Rivers’ Wool as a significant part of their costume is Egwene. Nynaeve, Rand and Perrin all look like they’re wearing some sort of skin or fur lining in their outerwear (at least it doesn’t look like spun and woven wool), and it’s hard to tell what material Mat is wearing for his coat.
Shadar Logoth looks legit though.
If I recall the books correctly men are described as wearing shirts, breeches and coats or jackets. Personally I’ve tended to visualize a 17th or 18th century vibe but it shouldn’t exactly match any historical period. Women wear long dresses, cut and material vary considerably depending on location. Women ride astride in divided skirts which the producers seem to be interpreting as a skirt slit down the center over leggings. Personally I’ve always imagined something like culottes but down to the ankles. As I recall standards of modesty vary considerably but seem to be mostly about lowness of neckline and tightness of fit. Both Moiraine and Egwene worry about showing too much leg when riding in ordinary skirts, though stockings seem to make a difference.
@7 I think they ignored the warder cloak because it was going to be super expensive.
Damn, but Perrin is a Big Boy. I’m ready, go ahead and release it now Amazon.
Doesn’t look a thing like the world/people I imagined and spent so much time with. I’m afraid if I watch it’ll ruin the memories. Gonna be a hard pass for me.
@@.-@ – of course they did, but it was due to necessity.
I do think it’s possible they are just glossing over some details, but the article just makes it sound like the Aes Sedai are doing it out of a power struggle as they don’t really go into the gravity of the taint.
Gregor @@@@@ 6, that’s my worry as well.
GoT wasn’t perfect, but boy did the first few seasons deliver for fans of the books. This series seems less concerned about textual fidelity, and so I am a bit saddened we will be missing out on some scenes that I would greatly enjoy seeing on screen…
I thought Moraine was supposed to be shorter?
Those outfits all look awfully heavy, isn’t it supposed to be Spring? Also
“We literally built Shadar Logoth from scratch just for 15 minutes of airtime”
The fact that they’re apparently only in Shadar Logoth for 15 minutes doesn’t do much to allay my worries about the pacing.
Also, I see the hilt of Rand’s sword, but where is Perrin’s axe?
Lan and Rand are both supposed to be really tall men. I’ll have to see the TV series, but it is disappointing they got something that simple wrong. Still can’t believe Tom Cruise plays Jack Reacher.
JadePhoenix @@@@@ 16
Winter had continued unnaturally longer into the Spring.
Good lord that looks and sounds just as bad as I was afraid it would be. They are going to butcher one of my favorite series. The casting is God awful from that picture.
To be honest, I never read past book 3 of the series; it just didn’t grab me like I wanted it to. That said, I’m looking forward to the series. Maybe if it grabs me I’ll give the books another look.
Looks great to me. Just finished reading the series and I am ready for this. I love how everyone looks.
I personally can’t wait to tell everyone how much better the books are than the show–makes me feel better as a human being. But for now, I don’t have anything to complain about. Although, Nynaeve does seem to be missing her pouch. Oh dear, such an oversight. Now I feel like I belong in this discussion.
For everyone worried about every button or buckle on every stitch of clothing that doesn’t match your head canon… for everyone worried that your favorite scene won’t be in the TV series… for everyone upset that Thom will play the guitar instead of the flute… etc…
I encourage you to think of this as a different turning of the Wheel! That will still fall within the realm of canon of the books, and you can think of the books as one version of events and the TV series as a different version of the same events. It simply takes place in a “different” Third Age.
I share some of the concerns about these castings not squaring up with my long-held pre-formed mental images of what these characters looked like. I’m still excited to see the show. I think it is akin to Orange Is The New Black: That fairly quickly left the straight adaptation of the book behind to become its own story, its own world, hewn from but not necessarily hewing to the original. Still good television.
@6 Can you point me to some sources re the leaving out of touchstone moments? I’d be interested to see that discussion.
I think it looks fantastic. Sure, Moiraine is not short, but the actress is phenomal, so I think I can get past that. Her height never felt critical to the story. The girls look almost just how I imagined them, and Nynaeve’s braid is amazing!
I am excited for this because I never could watch GoT; that kind of graphic violence makes me too sick. Since the WoT books don’t dwell on and revel in the violence the way the GoT books do, I am really hoping that they won’t lean into that aspect and will make a show that I can actually enjoy.
In the interest of keeping this discussion civil and on-topic, let’s please try to avoid making blanket statements about the motivations of other commenters when responding to their opinions–it only leads to grief. Thanks!
If we’re seeing Logain we must get as far as Caemlyn, which will be at least as big a challenge as Shadar Logoth to depict onscreen.
“Set in a sprawling world where magic exists but can only be used by women, “
Except, that wrong. There are men that can use magic, but it drives most of them insane.
Rand, as the one foretold, is able to use it without having the same issues.
The book series is great, but honestly, I think the only way it could have been right is to
have animated the stories instead of doing live action. The painting on the covers of the books
have biased a lot on how the characters “should” look.
There is also the problem that Robert Jordan died before finishing the books and the ones by
Sanderson don’t have the right “flavor” and left far too much unaddressed for my tastes. Not saying
they were terrible, just not right. His own books are quite good, but the types of relationships are not
the same.
Stories of this scope have the same problem as Harry Potter, only worse.
They cover such a long time span and will take so long to film that the actors will age out of the part or
quit or die in accident, etc. That’s why I would have gone with animating it.
I completely understand that this is an adaptation and is not being made for fans of the books. But the costumes look like cheap Netflix/MTV/CW Fantasy wardrobe department designs – it is not about the buttons being wrong but the whole atmosphere coming off as low budget. For all of the production staff read the books I have seen, it is becoming clear that from costuming and plot changes that they skimmed the book and are applying a “vision” to the series where the source material is secondary. I read that they are dropping the Elaine, Min, Aviendha, and Rand relationships which bugs me as it is that relationship that allows Rand to achieve balance and peace with his role. I will watch the first episodes, but I am afraid it will be more of a cheap WoT knock-off
@28 There have been many rumors of changes in the plot. One of them is not showing Caemlyn in the first season, making the main characters converge somewhere else before going to Fal Dara and the Eye of the World.
Casting wise this choice was justified because even though some of the coolest scenes happen in Caemlyn, the characters there would appear for one scene at most (Elaida, Morgase, Elayne, Gawyn, Galad, Gareth Bryne, Basil gill, Tallanvor). It seems they prefer to wait until the characters appear more in the plot before casting them. Many rumors that one of the newly cast actresses in season 2 (a young blonde woman) is Elayne, and that she’d be introduced to the plot as she meets Egwene and Nynaeve in the Tower.
@29 thats not actually true. Rand can go mad from using the Power. That’s why he hears voices. I’m also betting the synopsis is vague about only women using the power to actually keep it a secret about rand. Let’s face it; the mystery of rand being the dragon reborn was non exisstent, as he was the only one of the main three where his powers were actually “mysterious” and him being the only main focus character in the first book besides a couple of chapters with Perrin make that really obvious he was important. the show is trying to have Morraine be more of a focus, meaning that the synopsis are going to have her as the main focus and not go “rand is special” every time
@14 SonOfThunder
I notice the preferred orthodoxy is already being catechismically proselytized about ‘different turnings of the same Wheel.’
Doesn’t change what I think of unnecessarily wholesale changes for the sake of them. And I fear worse may be coming.
I don’t think that will affect the quality of what is produced and that quality should be enough to help appreciate the TV Show for its own sake.
For me, it will not be without the associated disappointment that a Series I enjoyed for itself is being unnecessarily turned into something other than that, using the name recognition as a shroud.
@24 MikeinPhoenix
I didn’t save any of the YouTube links but there are at least 3 Channels dedicated to WoT regurgitating the orthodoxy I referred to above. If you look through their libraries, discussion about expected changes to what happens at Shadar Logoth & the likelihood Caemlyn will not play a part in the same way it does in Eye of the World, if at all, shouldn’t be too hard to find.
@25 “I never could watch GoT; that kind of graphic violence makes me too sick.”
Same here on that specific type GoT seemed to revel in. Looking forward to this one!
I am excited for the show. They really need a trailer ASAP. One nitpick, shouldn’t Rand be taller than Perrin. Perrin is described as large/thick, but Rand is supposed to be the tallest. Not a big deal though.
I’m just hoping they keep it PG-13
One more question. Does anyone know how involved Harriet Jordan and/or Brandon Sanderson have been with this project?
These comments are bizarrely gloomy. I have heard there’s an fb group who are largely negative about the show. If you are, like me, incredibly excited to see your childhood favourite series brought to life and thinks this looks amazing, there is a massive community on Twitter to come get excited with.
Personally, I think the level of detail and authenticity in the costumes is superb, in the sense of the EF5 looking like thing they’re in clothes that real people would really wear from a specific culture rather than Generic Fantasy Peasants. I love that they translated woollens visually in the way they did – looks great and it’s not like Two Rivers weaving is a thing.
The best book adaptations in my view take some artistic licence. They bring something new to the table. I personally love this about adaptations, every time I watch a different version of Shakespeare or reinterpretation of a comic book narrative. That’s what makes adaptations interesting. The original already exists and has been done. What’s the point of redoing it exactly, even if you could?
Anyway, it will never BE the original exactly because of changes for the medium, and it will never be your original because we all have slightly different head canon. For me, Rand and Egwene look like my head canon to the point it takes my breath away. I love that Rand looks just credibly like an outsider but also I can see why this is overlooked – also I’m so happy they’re burying the lead a bit better on who is the Dragon.
I want an adaptation to flex some creative muscle, and I am confident there are talented people in the world other than RJ. I think it will be better if the characters don’t sniff and smooth their skirts quite so much, and if we don’t spend ten books on a subplot rescuing Faloe, and if the first season does not sound like an LoTR rip off (which caused so many people I know not to bother past EotW and was just forced on RJ to market at the time he was writing). I want there to be bold creative choices that add new layers and meaning in the text.
Thats not to say that there are things I’d be disappointed if they change or omit. For sure, there will be. But the fix for that is so easy – walk to my bookshelf. You can think of this show like visiting the world through a poor quality ter’angreal, or you can think of it as a new telling – perhaps in common rather than High Chant. Twirl your moustaches and scoff because it’s a ‘lesser version’ if you must, but personally I’m just curious and excited to see what they do!
I know it shouldn’t be a big deal, but Moraine is way too tall, Rand not tall enough, Lan also not quite tall enough. Jordan’s very detailed descriptions of the characters’ physical attributes will make it difficult for me to visualize this as “right”. Almost like if Tyrion had been 5 ft 6 inches rather than a dwarf!
Hopefully (if they get that far) the plotline of doom can be resolved in less than a season.
@37, To me when I see something described as being made of wool I don’t imagine the wool as being attached to the skin still. Two Rivers is supposed to produce wool, and to me that means yarn, fabric, meant to be woven, knitted etc into garments, not hide and leather. It looks like a departure from the books, it’s not a huge deal, it’s just what we have to speculate on.
I’m curious to see what they change, how they condense the story. Judging by the episode name “Flame of Tar Valon” it sounds to me like they’re trading in Tar Valon for Caemlyn, and Siuan and Leane are listed in the castin. I do wish they could be more accurate to the earlier books and cut some of the weight off the later books but I don’t think that’s what they’re doing, the changes look a little more wholesale right now.
To all of those complaining about the characters not looking like those we are familiar with in the books, I have to say that I felt the same when I watched the previews of The Expanse. No one looked like I imagined and I was distraught … until I watched the series and was blown away. Now when I reread the books, it’s the actors faces and voices that come to mind, even when descriptions are against it!
@36, they are heavily involved
@30, it’s definitely not low budget. Their budget is something like 3x what the first season of GoT had. Money alone doesn’t mean it will be good, but it helps.
@35, I hope it’s PG-13 too.
@37, +1 to your entire comment
I think I’m going to start a drinking game for whenever I come across WoT specific thematic metaphors, from the rose coloured optimists in the crowd, making excuses for choices that don’t need excusing but aren’t immune from criticism either.
I judge a filmmaker’s creative muscle when adapting an established work by how faithful they can be, without compromising the specific artistry of their medium. I don’t think it should give them a license to insert change for change’s sake
Those that do that are exemplified by the masterpiece that was the Original Film Version of Day of The Jackal, as compared to the odious exercise of creative freedom that was Jackal, starring Bruce Willis and was Richard Gere in it too? Yeek.
I hope the adaptation survives long enough to get the full satisfaction of PloD being completely excised, along with everything but the barest essentials from Elayne’s ascension to the Lion Throne.
The Touchstone Moments from everything else, imo, deserve to be reproduced. And how best to achieve that as faithfully as possible, ought to be what exercises the creative mind & muscle of the Producers of the show.
Looking forward to this. Been a fan since it first came out. The Aes Sedai do crave power but are suspicious of men welding the power because of the taint in it that affects only men. It is hard to write a short synopsis of this series as it contains 14 books in all. Everyone fears “The return of the Dragon”, a man who can weld the power. This series follows a group of friends as they face this prophesied return. Jordan wove together one hell of a story incorporating nuances from different myths and cultures. Fingers crossed that they do him proud with this series.
My main concern with the show is the actress playing Egwene. She’s either incredibly inexperienced at her craft or just plain bad, because she hasn’t learned not to stare directly at the camera yet.
Moraine is a little tall but I’m impressed how much everyone else basically matches the relative height I expected.
Personally I don’t expect television and film adaptations to to be close to the source material due to decades of experience that they never are. I’ve been known to actually like adaptational changes and I’m used to regarding adaptations as a different thing from the book. Frankly it sounds like they’ve made a right mess out of WoT but let’s wait and see.
One of the things that I liked about the books was the way Robert Jordan differentiated the various regions and cultures. I hope that the series maintains that in their casting.
I’m super excited about this. I love the books, i’ve loved them for 25 years and I’ll keep loving them. But this is not the books. If the tv adaptation tried staying too close to the books i dont think i would’ve liked it much as it could never be anywhere near as good (in my opinion), but by doing its own thing it has the potential to create its own awesomeness. It’s like getting a whole bonus WoT adventure! Sure, it might just be plain bad, but I doubt it :
@51 – exactly. Love the books; this will be a different take on a story and characters that have been acquaintences for thirty years. Never know when a new book or series will hold your attention; pretty sure this one will.
@16 You do realize that the characters duration in Shadar Logoth will not take place in real time? Assuming that each episode is approx one hour long that’s 1/4 of an episode in SL, seem like plenty.
When asked on Twitter whether the forsaken would appear in season 1, Rafe responded “That depends how much you know about the forsaken.”
Hopefully that’s just a deflection to avoid spoilers, but honestly, any answer other than: “Of course, they’re completely central to the climax of the story” is unacceptable in my mind.
I think that for many of us, the default position on an adaptation like this is skepticism, because we’ve been burned so many times before. There are exceptions, LotR being the most obvious, but adaptations of epic fantasy have mostly been poor. I suppose it’s theoretically possible for an adaptation to stray wildly for the source material and still be good, but that always seems to be the go-to excuse, and I honestly can’t think of a single example where it actually happened. The Harry Potter movies are a good case study. They’re a pretty mixed bag, though generally good, and for me at least, the ones that stayed closest to the books were easily the best.
I’m still hoping for the best from this series, but I’m prepared to be let down again, and what we’ve heard about the series so far hasn’t been as encouraging as I would like.
@54 – SPOILERS! To me it says that Ishamael, Balthamel, and Aginor will probably show up at the end. But it also could very well mean that “Selene” shows up too. I seem to recall that stuff from first two books are included in season one.
@23: Love your ‘different turning of the wheel’ approach!
My main concern is this… I would love to see the series (though only, like other commenters have said, if it’s not like GoT in the graphic violence sense) but I’d rather not support an unethical company like Amazon.
@54
I think Baalzamon is going to appear and maybe Selene, but the show is not going to make it clear that Baalzamon is a forsaken and not the Dark One, just as the main characters don’t discover this until the end of book 3.
Probably Aginor and Balthamel aren’t going to be adapted or aren’t going to declare their names to be killed in the next scene.
@57, All Aginor and Balthamel do in the books is to walk on and be killed though (and also Be’lal, man was he gone quick). I know the come back as Aran’gar and Osan’gar but to me that just stretched the plot for no reason. I couldn’t remember a single thing Aran’gar did if you held a knife to my throat, and the only thing I remember about Osan’gar is the whole Halima giving Egwene a headache thing, which I don’t remember what they were trying to achieve with that. (Btw, I’m not even sure if I have them in the right roles, I’m only 80% sure that Osan’gar was the one disguised as Halima.)
I would as soon do away with the new bodies for the Forsaken bit, find some other excuse for Ishamael to take the name Moridin.
@57 @58
I can easily see the shortsighted choice of the easy excision of virtual cameos like Aginor & Balthamel being made.
I think it would be a mistake because even in their brief appearance as themselves they represent an organically filmic distillation of what the turning of The Wheel can do to those too close the Power that drives it.
And they create layers that lead to the first Boss confrontation with Ba’alzamon, or give Producers an opportunity to avoid the redundancy of repeated Rand vs Ba’alzamon matchups, by saving their first direct confrontation for Falme.
There is a danger the subtext of the repeated Rand-Ba’alzamon ‘final’ confrontations hinting at Ba’alzamon not actually being the Dark One could be lost, but it can be recaptured in other ways, or it could be saved for a blindside after The Dragon has been Reborn for all the world to see.
Whatever it actually is – and although I get too caught up in this speculation, I need to remember that this particular choice has long ago been made; filmed and printed – I hope they don’t mistake such easy choices with creative bravado, because of the nominal significance the Characters have on the page, in the larger scheme of things.
There is plenty of fat to cut after the Dragon is Reborn, if they make it that far.